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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Mc G UFFE Y ' S NA TURA L HIS TOR Y RE A DERS 



Familiar Animals 



AND THEIR 



WILD KINDRED 



FOR THE THIRD READER GRADE 



I I. 



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JOHN MONTEITH, M.A. 




VAN ANTWERP. BRAGG & CO. 

CINCINNATI AX/) NEW YORK 



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QL4-7 

PREFACE. 



Mln 



McGuffey's Natural History Readers are intended 
to furnish supplementary reading within a field which is al- 
ways fresh, interesting, and instructive to children. 

By dispensing with lists of words for spelling, diacriticals, 
definitions, and paragraph numbers, and by developing a real 
and apparent unity in the subjects treated, they introduce the 
child at once into the form, style, and method of the litera- 
ture of books. 

By a natural link of association, they conduct the reader 
from the more familiar to the less familiar facts about ani- 
mals, thus awakening his attention, stimulating his powers 
of observation, and leading him to discern, compare, and 
think for himself. 

The publishers have spared no expense in presenting to 
the eye accurate pictures of the more prominent subjects of 
the text. With a single exception, the illustrations have 
been designed specially for this work. 



Copyright, 1887, By Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. 



(ii) 



O 

f 



CONTENTS. 



2. 

3« 
4- 

5- 
6. 

7- 



LESSON 

I. Sir Walter Scott and his Dogs . 
Dogs Great and Small . 
Remarkable Doings of Dogs 
Two Clever Dogs 
The Dog of St. Bernard 
"Love Me, Love my Dog". 
Wild, but Dog-like 

8. Renard . . . . . 

9. Samson and the Foxes 

10. The Kitten and the Falling Leaves 

11. Velvet Paws and Covered Claws 

12. Did the Cat Count Four? . 

13. The Cat's Ways .... 

14. Puss's Country Cousins 

15. Dog-like Cats .... 

16. The Tiger ..... 

17. Giant Cats and their Families 

18. Rats .... 

19. Cunning Rats 

20. The Rat's Relations 

21. Red Riding-Hood 

22. The Gray Squirrel 

23. The Woodchuck and his Skin 

24. Bruin and his Ways 

25. How to Frighten Wild Animals 

26. Hear- faces and Dear-feet 

27. Jolly Otters .... 

28. Hoofed Feet 

29. Horses Great, Small, and Swift 

30. Wise Horses 

31. Horse-like Animals 

32. Facts About Elephants 
^^. The Children's Giant Friend 



Mrs. Stowe. 



Wordsworth. 



Mrs. A. E. Porter. 



Frank Buckland. 
Frank Buckland. 



Adapted. 
Adapted. 



. IVhittier. 

E. A. Samuels. Adapted. 

. Thorcau. Adapted. 

Part 2 by Arthur Nicols. 



Harpe 



Young People. 

(ill) 



PAGE 

5 
7 

16 
21 
26 
27 
30 
34 
37 
39 
40 

45 
47 
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57 
60 
61 
68 
70 
73 
79 
81 

83 
86 
90 
92 
96 

97 
102 
108 
1 1 1 

'i5 
119 



IV 



CONTENTS. 



Adapted 
. Youatt. Adapted. 
Dn Chaill u. Adapted 



LESSON 

34. The Elephant and the Child 

35. Ancient History of Elephants . . : 

36. The Rhinoceros . . . Our Young Folks. 

37. Pigs Tame and Wild . 

38. The Swine-General 

39. Colonel Mayfield's Pets 

40. The River Pig . 

41. Our Old Cow and her Near Relations 

42. Cud-chewers ..... 

43. Moose-hunting ..... Butler and Gordon 

44. Wild Reindeer . . . . P. H. Gosse. Adapted 

45. A True Story of a Fawn .... Edith May 

46. Catching Buffalo Calves . Oliver Howard. Adapted 

47. Wild and Cow-like ....... 

48. The Peterkins at the Menagerie Our Young Folks. Adapted 

49. Mary Who had the Little Lamb American Agriculturist, 

50. Sheep and Goats 

51. The Ship of the Desert 

52. Milk-givers of the Sea 

53. Monkeys at Home 

54. How Monkeys Act 

55. Remus Crowley 

56. 



Capture of a Young Gorilla 



Du Chaillu 



PAGE 
124 
125 
129 
132 
136 
138 
144 

147 
152 
158 
l6l 
I64 
166 
I69 

173 

178 
I8O 
185 
I89 
192 
I96 
199 
202 



■ !U J ;>\ 




■ 



The Puma. 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 




I. SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS DOCS. 



When Washington Irving visited Sir Walter 
Scott at Abotsford, he found him surrounded 
by dogs, which formed as much a part of his 
family as did his children. 

In the morning, when they started for a ram- 
ble, the dogs would be on the alert to join them. 

(v) 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



There was, first, a tall old staghound named 
Maida, that considered himself the particular 
friend of his master, walked by his side, and 
looked into his eyes. Then there was a black 
greyhound named Hamlet, that gamboled and 
cut capers with the wildest glee. 

And there was a beautiful setter named 
Finette, with large, mild eyes, soft, silken hair, 
and long, curly ears. She was the favorite of 
the parlor. Then a venerable old greyhound, 
wagging his tail, came out to join the party as 
he saw them going by his quarters. He was 
cheered by Scott with a hearty, kind word, as an 
old friend and comrade. 

In his walks, Scott would often stop to talk to 
one or another of his four-footed friends, as if 
they were in fact rational companions ; and from 
being talked to, and treated in this way, they 
really seemed to acquire more intelligence than 
other dogs. 

Scott's four-footed friends made a respectful 
part of the company at family meals. Old 
Maida took his seat gravely at his master's 
elbow, looking up wistfully into his eyes, while 
Finette, the pet spaniel, took her seat by Mrs. 
Scott. Besides the dogs in attendance, a large 
gray cat also took her seat near her master, and 
was presented, from time to time, with bits from 
the table. 



DOGS GREAT AND SMALL. 



Puss, it appears, was a great favorite both with 
master and mistress, and slept in their room at 
night. She was a sort of queen among the quad- 
rupeds, sitting in Scott's arm-chair beside the 
door, as if to review her subjects as they passed, 
giving each dog a cuff on the ears as he went 
by. This clapper-clawing was always amiably 
taken. Perfect harmony prevailed between Puss 
and her subjects, and they would all sleep con- 
tentedly in the sunshine. 

Scott once said that the only trouble about 
having a dog was, that he must die ; but he said 
it was better to have dogs die in eight or nine 
years, than to go on loving them for twenty or 
thirty, and then have them die. 



2. DOGS GREAT AND SMALL. 

There was a great din and clatter, as if all the 
dogs in the country were together, when Mrs. 
Perry and her three children approached the Mad- 
ison Square Garden to visit the dog-show. 

11 I'm afraid to go in, mamma," said little Ruth, 
"the dogs will surely bite when they bark so 
loud." 

"I'm not afraid of them," blustered her brother 
Joel, as if he were very brave. li Don't be such 
a little coward, Ruth." 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



" Of course you're not afraid of them," cried 
Dora, coming to the defense of her little sister. 
Why should you be ? Brave boy ! You know 
the dogs are all chained, and couldn't bite you 
if they wanted to. But if they were let loose 
you would be as much of a coward as Ruth." 

"Dora is right," said Mrs. Perry, holding fast 
the hand of the little girl. " You need not fear, 
Ruth. The dogs are all confined ; and if they 
were not, they would not hurt you. They are 
well-bred dogs. Besides, barking dogs never 
bite, you know. They are barking, not because 
they are cross, but because they are happy. 
Barking is the way dogs talk and sing. Come, 
let us hurry on." 

As they passed into the garden they saw two 
dogs, each being led to his cage. One was a 
huge Newfoundland, weighing a hundred and 
fifty pounds, and the other was a toy-terrier, of 
not more than four pounds' weight. The two 
met. The giant kissed the dwarf, as dogs do, 
on his tiny nose, and wagged his great curled 
tail in delight, as much as to say: "You are a 
wonderfully insignificant fellow, but I like you all 
the same, because you are my cousin." 

"There!" exclaimed Mrs. Perry, "it is just as 
Mrs. Miller says in her book. The dogs, great 
and small, all know one another as dogs, and 
love each other." 



DOGS GREAT AND SMALL. 



They proceeded along the rows of benches 
upon which were the noisy pets, all arranged ac- 
cording to their general likenesses. And these 
are some of the different kinds of dogs they saw : 

First, there were the wolf-dogs, including the 
Newfoundland, the Esquimo, the Collie, and the 
Spitz. 




Newfoundland and Toy-Terrier. 

The most human of all the dog-kind is the 
Newfoundland. He is large, and is two and a 
half feet high. He is the favorite of the chil- 
dren, for he loves them. Some dogs hunt birds ; 
others chase the fox; still others di^' for vermin 



IO FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

and catch rats ; but the strong passion of the 
Newfoundland is to guard and to save human life. 
If he runs long on the ground his feet become 
sore. He is a good swimmer, and his feet, like 
those of the duck, are slightly webbed. Fre- 
quently, through the rough waves, he has carried 
ropes from a sinking ship to the shore ; and in 
this way has saved many lives. 

The collie is the most intelligent of all dogs. 
He shows what human cultivation can do to im- 
prove a brute. He can not easily learn a trick. 
He will not hunt wild game. One thing only 
can he do well, and that is to care for sheep. 
Through so many generations has his kind been 
kept with sheep, that the collie has lost his scent 
for other animals. His abundant coat, of mixed 
yellow and black hair, with some patches of white, 
protects him against cold and storm. 

When the collie is a pup, it is separated by the 
Scottish shepherd from its mother, and is kept in 
the sheep-pen, where it is suckled by a ewe. 
Brought up in this way, it loves only its master 
and the friendly sheep When grown, it comes 
home, occasionally, for food, and then at once re- 
turns to the flock. In this country the collie is 
used for herding cattle as well as sheep. 

The spitz dog is from Pomerania, though orig- 
inally, perhaps, from Spitsbergen. In form he 
resembles the collie. He wears a long, white 



DOGS GREAT AND SMALL. II 

coat with a ruffle about his neck. He is some- 
times snappish and subject to unpleasant fits. 

The Esquimo dog, nearly as large as the New- 
foundland, strongly resembles the spitz, and is 
quite like the wolf of his native country. He 
howls but does not bark. Sometimes he hunts 
the bear ; but his chief employment is to draw the 
sledge of his master, Dr. Kane tells of a team 
of six of these Northern dogs which drew him, on 
a loaded sledge, nearly eight hundred miles in a 
fortnight, or about sixty miles a day. 

The greyhound, as we see him, stands alone, 
and represents the oldest distinct breed of dogs 
known. His graceful form was carved on Egyp- 
tian monuments three thousand years ago. So 
long trained to chase the hare and the deer by 
sight, the greyhound has lost his scent. He is 
the swiftest of all dogs. 

The small Italian greyhound is his little cousin, 
and is one of the prettiest of house pets. 

PART 2. 

The next group met in the dog-show was the 
spaniels, including the retrievers and setters. It 
is many hundred years since the spaniel brought 
his silk}-, curly, liver-colored coat, and his large, 
drooping ears from Spain to England. 

All spaniels arc docile, love their human friends, 



12 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



and are fond of the water. The pets of King 
Charles II of England were toy-spaniels, and 
weighed only five pounds each. Poodles belong 
to the spaniel group. With their bright eyes 
buried under thick, curly hair, they follow the 
baby-carriage, or dance, tell cards, climb ladders, 
and ride ponies in the side show. 




Cocker and King Charles Spaniels. 



Most animals that catch other animals, pause 
for a moment before springing upon their prey. 
The setter has been trained to make this pause 
long enough to allow the sportsman to come up 
and get ready to shoot, before the birds are start- 
ed, or "flushed." This act, so picturesque, is 
called "pointing." English setters are nearly 
white, or are spotted; Irish setters are red; and 
Scotch setters are black and tan. 

The Perry children thought the bloodhounds 



DOGS GREAT AND SMALL. 



13 



bore a ferocious name, but a very intelligent face. 
Their scent is so keen that they can track a par- 
ticular man through any number of tracks of other 
men or animals. The staghound, or deer-hound, 
has a rough coat. The fox-hound is the aristo- 
cratic dog of England. Of the fox-hounds, family 
records have been kept during more than a hun- 
dred and fifty years. 

The beagle is smaller than the fox-hound, and 
is used for hunting the hare. The spotted hound, 
or coach-dog that comes from Dalmatia is not 
inclined to hunt, but prefers the company of horses 
and carriages. The pointer is a beautiful, smooth- 
haired bird-hound, originally from Spain. He 
points his game as the setter does. 

The mastiff group includes the bull-dog, who 
shows his character in his head. There was 
formerly in England a 
barbarous and cruel 
sport called ''bull-bait- 
ing," in which dogs 
were trained to attack 
a fierce bull and hold 
him by the nose. This 
practice gave the bull- 
dog his name. Once Bun-do*. 
having got his grip, it is hard to make him let go. 

A very different disposition has the rough- 
coated St. Bernard. Though much like the New- 




14 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

foundland in form, he is regarded as a mastiff. 
When he is adorned with a robe of long, curly, 
buff-colored hair, he is much admired. When, in 
the Alps, his friends the monks go out in search 
of the bewildered and lost traveler, the dog runs 
before them, clearing away the snow, and raising 
a deep, loud bark, which is pleasant music to the 
perishing. 

The Romans, when they conquered the island 
of Britain, were so highly pleased with the dogs 
they found there, that they appointed an officer 
whose business it was to collect these fine mastiffs 
and send them to Rome. Here they were made 
to fight wild animals in the amphitheater. 

The English mastiff is very large. His coat of 
smooth, yellow hair trimmed with black makes 
him attractive. He is kind to the children and 
the household to which he belongs, but severe to 
the trespasser. His cousin, the bull-dog, seizes 
his victim in silence. The mastiff gives one deep 
bark, as if to say, " Look out, I am here ! ' ! The 
monstrous little pug is a mastiff, and is regarded 
as most beautiful when he is ugliest. 

The restless, pattering, jumping, dancing, dig- 
ging little terrier shows how each kind of dog is 
born to its work. 

The spaniel and the hound scent the duck and 
the fox, but care nothing for the rat. The ter- 
rier rejoices even in a rat-hole ; likes nothing 



DOGS GREAT AND SMALL. 



!5 




Mastiff and Pug-. 



better than to fasten his teeth in the body of a 
frightened rat; and bounds at the mention of 
the word " rats." 

The color of the English terrier is black and 
tan. His tail is much like that of a rat. The 
Scotch terrier has a short, rough, dirt-colored 
coat. The Skye terrier has short legs, a long 
body, and is covered with long, light-brown hair, 
which often entirely covers his eyes. If the hair 
is cut away, the eyes become weak. 

All terriers, as their name indicates, are earth- 
diggers. The fox terrier, nearly all white, is the 
most desperate digger of all. Wherever he is 
allowed to roam, not a rat, nor a rabbit, nor a 
woodchuck can hope to have any peace. 



j6 familiar animals. 



3. REMARKABLE DOINGS OF DOGS. 

Dogs often bury bones or other food for fut- 
ure use. In performing this act, a common dog 
in West Virginia proved either that he was ten- 
der-hearted, or that he was cunning and liked a 
little fun. 




Fox Terrier and Fox-hound. 



One day he was holding a living rabbit in his 
mouth, while with his feet he dug a pit. When 
he had finished the hole, he pressed the unwill- 
ing victim into it, covered it as quickly as he 
could, and, patting the dirt with his paws, went 
away a short distance, and lay down to watch 
the result. 

Presently, bunny thinking that it was both 
improper for him to be buried alive and safe to 
make his escape, jumped up and started off on 
a run. Towser soon caught him, and buried him 
again. Three times did the poor little fellow res- 



REMARKABLE DOINGS OF DOGS. 1 7 

urrect himself, and each time the dog caught and 
buried him. On the fourth trial, however, the 
dog thought bunny would lie more quietly if he 
were dead. He then shook the life out of him, 
and buried him with success. 

k4 One morning," says a writer in the Animal 
World, tk I was surprised to find that my dog had 
five pups, three of which were nearly exhausted 
from cold, I carried them into the house, and 
the mother followed me, evidently wondering 
what I was about to do with her offspring. By 
the aid of warm flannel, two of the little creat- 
ures soon showed signs of active life ; but the 
third died, and I threw it out on a heap of rub- 
bish. 

44 Two days afterward, I gave the mother-dog 
a run, when, on passing the heap of rubbish, she 
stood still for a moment, scented the air, and 
bounded to the ash-heap. 

" Little thinking" what she was after, I called 
her several times, but to no purpose. Finally 
she came, bringing the dead pup in her mouth. 
After allowing me a sight of it, she started off 
in the direction of the house, where she went 
to the hearth, and laid the pup carefully by the 
fire. 

"Then she tugged at my trouser-leg, ran to 
her lifeless young, and taking it in her mouth, 
held it up and looked at it, as if she would say, 

I\ A.- 2. 



1 g FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

' You took the others and brought them to life ; 
please do the same to this." 

A Skye terrier, owned by a gentleman in Bal- 
timore, proved one day that it could feel ashamed 
of a dishonest act. The master had always 
treated the terrier well ; in fact, it had never been 
punished. 

On the occasion referred to, the gentleman 
was at his table. Near the edge of the table 
the Skye saw a cutlet, and yielded to the temp- 
tation to steal the 
meat. The cutlet 
was slyly seized and 
taken under the sofa. 
The gentleman pre- 
tended not to see 
the theft. But the 

Skye Terrier. • r i i • 

conscience of the lit- 
tle dog soon got the better of its hunger. It 
brought the cutlet back, laid it at the feet of its 
master, hung its head in shame, and slunk away. 

PART 2. 

A small terrier fell from the wharf in San 
Francisco into the bay. He could not get up 
the high wall of the wharf, neither could any 
one of the crowd that gathered reach him, and 
he swam about in despair. Just at the moment 




REMARKABLE DOINGS OF DOGS. 19 

when all hopes of saving him were given up, 
the bark of a dog attracted attention, when there 
appeared a large Newfoundland. 

He saw the little fellow in the water, and, with 
a low wail, ran to and fro along the wharf. Then, 
to the surprise of every one present, he sprang 
into the water and at once swam to the terrier, 
seizing him by the neck with his teeth. After 
swimming about for some time, he discovered a 
low place where he could land, about a hundred 
yards distant. For this point he headed. 

When he reached his destination, the admiring 
crowd started on a run toward the rescuer. Upon 
landing his precious burden on the shore, the 
Newfoundland gave two or three sharp barks, and 
seemed to be proud of what he had done. 

It was some time before the terrier was able to 
walk away. One of those who saw r the strange 
sight took a handkerchief from his pocket, and 
tied it about the neck of the Newfoundland, say- 
ing: "This dog is mine, and I would not take a 
thousand dollars for him at this moment." 

Carlo belonged to a farmer in Connecticut. It 
was a common practice for the farmer's wife to 
send dinner by him to the men who were at work 
about a mile from the house. On one occasion 
two of the men, after cutting wood on one side of 
the mountain, went over to the other side. Carlo 
found an ax, which he seemed to think they had 



20 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

left by mistake, and carried it home, a distance of 
half a mile or more. Carlo would lead a horse 
by a halter. He knew different tools by their 
names. He knew a few families, also, by their 
names. One day the farmer, holding in his hand 
a letter, remarked, "I wish Mrs. Blank could see 
this." Carlo, unbidden, came forward, took the 
letter in his mouth, and carrying it past several 
houses, took it to the house of the person named 
and presented it to her. 

In a remote corner of Texas there lived a lonely 
pioneer. He had a considerable flock of sheep 
which his collie, every morning, helped him to 
drive to pasture. The man sickened, and finally 
died. In the morning the dog came for him, 
whined and sniffed at the door of the cabin, but 
no one opened. Remembering his duty, the faith- 
ful creature drove the sheep to pasture, tended 
them, and drove them back at evening. This he 
did morning and evening for two years. 

Herdsmen passing by thought the flock had 
only been left with the dog for a short time. 
Shepherds often leave their flocks in this way. 
At length, some settlers came into that region, 
and found the flock grown to a large one, still 
under the charge of the collie. Apparently, 
every time he had needed food, he seized the last 
of the flock to enter the fold or corral, killed it, 
and ate it as he required. 



TWO CLEVER DOGS. 



21 



4. TWO CLEVER DOGS. 

Here is, in substance, an account of the re- 
markable travels of .Mac, as given in 1887 by 
the Cottrani- Times of Hartford, Connecticut. 

The story has been tested by many persons and 
may be trusted as true. By the aid of a map 
of Connecticut any reader may trace the move- 
ments of the dog. 




Spitz and Collie. 

Frequent travelers on the Hartford and Con- 
necticut Western Railroad have noticed a hand- 
some shepherd dog in the baggage-car of cer- 
tain trains. It is quite unusual for a collie to 
enjoy riding. Few are aware, however, that the 
dog is a regular and almost daily passenger on 
this road. He answers to the name Mac, and 
is owned by a lady in Falls Village, Litchfield 
county. Through some kindness which the train 
men have shown him, he has become strongly 



22 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

attached to them, and this fondness is fully re- 
turned by each and every one of the men. 

Mac turns out nearly every morning and jumps 
on board the train leaving Falls Village at ten 
minutes before six. At Great Barrington, Mas- 
sachusetts, he leaves this train and awaits the 
down-train which makes close connection at Ca- 
naan with the Hartford and Connecticut West- 
ern train coming east. Here he boards the 
Hartford train aud rides as far as Collinsville. 
The eastward and westward trains meet here, and 
he takes the return train for Canaan, reaching 
Falls Village by seven o'clock in the evening. 

If, by any chance, the eastward trip is made 
in the afternoon instead of the morning, he fully 
understands that he must transfer himself to the 
west-bound train at New Hartford instead of 
Collinsville. He sometimes alights temporarily 
at Winsted, and becomes so deeply interested 
in what is going on about him as to get left ; 
but he always overtakes his train at East Win- 
sted, nearly half a mile away. His friends on 
the train provide him with food. 

He makes all his transfers entirely of his own 
accord, and appears to understand fully where 
all trains meet, and also where and when the dif- 
ferent connections are made. On Tuesday last 
he made his usual morning trip on conductor 
Hook's train, but on reaching Collinsville, where 



TWO CLEVER DOGS. 



he usually changes cars, he evidently decided to 
visit the city, and continued on to Hartford. 

On the return trip in the afternoon he stood, 
as is his custom, in the side door of the baggage- 
car, and as the train swung with great rapidity 
around a curve near Hoskin's Station, he fell 
from the car, laming, but not seriously injuring 
him. It w 7 as the last train for Canaan that night, 
but he made his way to Simsbury and boarded 
the first train west on Wednesday. On Thurs- 
day he commenced his trips again as usual. 



PART 2. 



Demo is the name of another wise dog. In 
answer to an inquiry about him, his owner writes 
that the sketch from the Cromwell Record here 
given does not * ' tell one tenth of the wonderful 
things that Demo has done. He treats us to 
some fresh exhibition of sagacity or human in- 
telligence every day." 

Demo is owned by Colonel Newton, of Crom- 
well, Middlesex county, Connecticut. He is a 
mixture of two very distinct kinds of clogs, the 
Esquimo and the Irish setter. 

It is his duty to go twice a day to the railroad 
station for morning and evening papers. The 
train bringing the New York World reaches 
Cromwell at nine o'clock in the morningf, and 



24 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

the train bringing the Hartford Times arrives at 
half past four in the afternoon. 

Demo goes of his own accord, is always on 
time, and waits about where the baggage-car is 
to stop — in the morning at one place, and in the 
evening at another. There he waits until the 
bundle of papers is thrown off and opened by 
the station-master, when he takes his paper in 
his mouth and immediately starts for home. 

If the weather is rainy, he has a piece of oil- 
skin, which is kept in a place w T here he can get 
it himself; and of his own accord he carries this 
with him. The station-master wraps it around 
the paper before giving it to him, in order that 
the paper may not get wet. On his return 
home, the dog puts the oil-skin away in its place 
for the next rainy day. 

The dog actually knows the paper he wants. 
That is, in the morning, when he goes for the 
World, he will take no other paper, and in the 
afternoon, nothing but the Times will answer. 
He has been repeatedly tried with the Tribime, 
Sun, and Herald, but to no purpose. At such 
times he will growl, and no paper will he touch 
until he is given the one he went after. 

One morning when he went for the World 
somebody tried to fool him by giving him a copy 
of the Hartford Times of the previous day, but 
it was of no use ; he had not come for the Times, 



TWO CLEVER DOGS. 25 

and would not touch it. It is the same way in 
the afternoon; he won't look at a Post or at any 
thing but a Times. 

Well, one day Demo was fooled. In opening 
the bundle of Worlds, the station-master slipped 
out of his pocket one that was two days old and 
handed it to the dog. Demo took it in his 
mouth and started for home. Arriving there he 
took it to his master, and was rewarded by a 
pat on the head and a kind word. 

Colonel Newton put on his spectacles and be- 
gan to read. Of course he at once discovered 
the trick, although at the time he thought it was 
only an error. Calling Demo to him he told him 
to take the paper back, and reproved him for 
making the mistake. I don't know what he said 
to him, but the dog seemed to understand it, for 
he hung his head and looked really ashamed. 

In a short time he was at the station again 
with the old World in his mouth. Going up to 
the agent, he laid the paper at his feet, and 
looking up into his face, gave a short and very 
decided bark, as much as to say: "Give me the 
right paper, and do it now." He was offered a 
World \\\'6X. was a day old, but, after sniffing at 
it for a moment, refused to take it ; and not un- 
til he was given a paper of that date would he 
accept any. 

Colonel Newton, naturally enough, values 



26 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



Demo beyond price, having received him from 
a friend in Kentucky who owns both the father 
and mother of this wonderful animal. 




5. THE DOG OF ST. BERNARD. 

One stormy night, upon the Alps, 

A traveler, weak and old, 
Walked sadly on through ice and snow, 

And shivered with the cold. 

His eyes were dim with weariness, 
His steps were short and slow; 

At length he laid him down to sleep 
Upon a bed of snow. 



"LOVE ME, LOVE MY DOG." 27 

Before he closed his aching eyes, 

He heard a cheerful bark; 
A faithful dog was at his side 

To guide him through the dark. 

And soon beside the fire he stood, 

And earnestly he prayed 
For those who trained that noble dog, 

And sent him to his aid. 



6. " LOVE ME, LOVE MY DOG. 

The great Cuvier, who gave his life to the 
study of animals, said of the home dog, that he 
is the " completest, the most singular, and the 
most useful conquest ever made by man." His 
actions and habits show this. When the dog 
meets his master, he jumps for joy, wags his tail, 
lowers his ears, licks his master's hands, and 
even crouches and rolls on his back. 

Wolves, jackals, and the dogs of savage men 
carry their ears erect, so as to catch the sounds 
which come from their prey or from their ene- 
mies. When the dog began to trust the man, 
to love him, and in turn to be trusted and loved 
by his master, then his ears began to droop, for 
he needed them less than when he was wild. 

It is thought, too, that the caresses of the 



28 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

household, and the smoothing of his head by 
the soft hands of children had something to do 
with making the dog's ears hang down. The 
first appearance of pendulous ears on dogs was 
in the time of the Roman Empire, about two 
thousand years ago. 

Nearly a thousand years ago, a good monk 
named St. Bernard, lived alone, with a few com- 
panions, in a wooded, wild, and gloomy valley. 
He loved nature, and found teachers in trees and 
stones. Dogs became his near friends, and he 
used to say : " He who loves me, loves my dog." 
From associating with such men, dogs became 
noble and self-sacrificing. 

Dogs take their character, a good deal, from 
their masters, and from the households in which 
they are bred, as the page takes its impressions 
from the type. Good treatment makes good 
dogs. The Egyptians even worshiped the dog. 
Their dog was the elegant greyhound. The 
Greeks and Romans set great value on their 
dogs. When Corinth was besieged, while the 
garrison slept, the city was said to be saved by the 
war-dogs. Fifty of them, of their own accord, 
drove back the enemy, killing all except one. 

But the do^s of the American Indians are 
mean creatures ; and those of India, called pa- 
riahs, are miserable curs and cowards. This is 
because these races of dogs have always been 



"LOVE ME, LOVE MY DOG." 29 

ill-treated and despised. The pariahs are never 
fed, and must steal. They roam at large, and 
have no particular masters. 

Such dogs found their way among the He- 
brews, and hence the Bible history represents 
dogs as despised. What was good for nothing 
was thrown to the dogs. And when a man 
spurned a mean act, he would say: "Is thy serv- 
ant a dog that he should do this?" The 
Esquimo never speaks kindly to his dog, and 
sometimes, when hungry, the dog turns on his 
master. 

Where did our home dogs come from? What 
sort of animals were their wild parents ? These 
questions, which the Perry children asked, it is 
not easy to answer with certainty; though it is 
not difficult to see how the taming of dogs 
might have happened. Wolves and jackals are 
social animals, and hunt in packs. How natu- 
ral it would have been, far back in the dim 
ages, for such animals and savage men to find 
that they were chasing the same deer, and when 
they had caught it, to share their game ; and 
thus, gradually, to become friends. 

There are some other questions about dogs 
which may be answered: How many teeth lias 
the dog in his two jaws ? What are his canine 
teeth? How many toes has he on his fore feet, 
and how many on his hind feet ? What are the 



30 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

dew-claws which some dogs have ? And why 
is it that a dog can be heard when he trots over 
a bare floor, and the steps of a cat, on the same 
floor, can not be heard? 



7. WILD, BUT DOG-LIKE. 



If the eyes are open, and the mind looks 
through the eyes, it is easy to discover, among 
wild animals, those that are like the dog both 
in form and in habits of life. The foxes, — the 
red and gray foxes of America, and the common 
fox of Europe, — look like dogs, though their 
noses are much longer and sharper. 

To the foxes add the large gray wolf of Amer- 
ica, the coyote or prairie-wolf of the Rocky 
Mountains, the dingo of Australia, and the jackal 
of Asia and Africa. These, and many others, 
are dog-like. 

In size, the red fox, which is the largest of 
his tribe, may be compared to the common 
spaniel dog. The jackal and dingo may stand 
by the shepherd dog ; the coyote by the setter ; 
and the gray wolf by the Newfoundland. Their 
cubs, or puppies, number five or six in a litter, 
and, like tame puppies, do not open their eyes 
until they are ten days old. As they grow they 
play, scuffle, and run around after their tails. 



WILD, BUT DOG-LIKE. 



31 




Coyote or Prairie-wolf. 



All these wild dogs have rough coats and 
bushy tails. The tame dog uses his tail to 
express his feelings. He laughs and mourns 
partly by his tail. He wags it when he is 
pleased, and he drops it, and often curls it be- 
tween his legs when he is frightened or ashamed. 
Among the wild dogs, foxes, jackals, dingoes, 
and coyotes have been seen, when in a happy 
state of mind, to wag their tails. 

The wild dogs are beasts of prey. They live 
chiefly on the flesh of animals which they catch. 
Deer, antelopes, sheep, lambs, hares, rabbits, 
field-mice, birds, and poultry are their unfortu- 
nate victims. In every respect they are made 
for the life they lead. Their tools are fitted to 
their work — which is to defend themselves, and 
to catch, kill, and eat. 



32 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

Watch the horse when he eats his oats, or 
the cow and the camel when they chew their 
cud. Their jaws work sideways, as well as up 
and down, because they must grind their food. 
Then observe the dog, or the wolf, or the hyena, 
while they are eating. Their jaws work up and 
down ; never sideways. Raw meat is easily di- 
gested. It needs no grinding, and as soon as 
a mouthful is taken it is swallowed. 

But the meat which dog-like animals eat must 
be cut ; and, if it is alive and running, it must 
be caught. Not by climbing trees, nor by 
crouching and springing upon it do the wild 
dogs catch their prey, but by chasing it, running 
it down, and seizing it with their teeth. Their 
claws are not sharp enough, nor are they suffi- 
ciently hooked to hold a jumping, jerking rabbit, 
or to cling to a tree ; but they are well fitted to 
dig with, and to keep their owners from slipping. 

The teeth of the wild dogs seize, hold, and 
cut up their game. In the front part of their 
two jaws are twelve sharp cutting-teeth. Next 
are four long canine teeth, which pierce and hold 
a struggling victim. Back of these are twenty- 
six teeth used for tearing, for cutting like scis- 
sors, and for chewing large pieces in two. Re- 
membering the sad fate of Little Red Riding 
Hood, it will not be desirable to feel in the 
mouth of a wolf to count his teeth. Any tame 



WILD, BUT DOG-LIKE. 



33 



Bruno, Carlo, Jack, or Jip will permit friendly 
little fingers to feel of the teeth, and to count 
them if the work is done quickly. 

To catch game by chasing it, the wild dogs 
use both speed and cunning. The fables teach 
how sly the fox is. Foxes usually hunt in pairs. 







Gray Wolf. 



Wolves and jackals hunt in packs. Wolves will 
distribute themselves in a circle around a herd of 
deer ; or a part of the pack will hide in a hollow 
place in the ground, while their companions drive 
the herd toward them. They cut the ham- 
strings of cattle when they chase them, but they 
never venture to do so with horses, for they well 
know what horses' heels can do. 



F. A. 



34 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



All wild dogs are cowards. Only in compa- 
nies do wolves dare to attack men, or strong 
beasts like buffaloes. Jackals and dingoes sel- 
dom annoy human beings. Jackals, called in 
the Bible foxes, prefer to prowl at night, and to 
find the prey which other beasts have killed. In 
ancient times they hung about battle-fields, and 
fed upon the bodies of the slain. So David says 
of his enemies: ''They shall fall by the sword ; 
they shall be a portion for foxes." 



8. RENARD. 



This name means cunning, and it was first 
used as the name of an animal, in a very old 
poem entitled " Renard the Fox." It is the 
right name for the fox, for he is cunning in his 
ways. He is the only one among the wild dogs 
that has his den in a burrow in the ground ; and 
he is wise enough to avoid the trouble of digging 
the den. He often drives out of their holes the 
rabbit or the badger, and then occupies the 
apartments thus vacated. 

Renard soon learns all about the trap which is 
placed to catch his foot. He knows when a 
trap is set, and when it is sprung; for he found 
out just how his companion came to get his foot 
in the trap. He proposes to escape a like fate. 



RENARD, 35 

The bait is tempting and he means to secure it. 
But what shall be done about the trap which 
must be stepped upon to reach the bait ? The 
jaws of the trap are spread wide open, and the 
slightest touch on a little pan between them will 
throw the jaws together, and then they will hold 
fast the nose or the foot that touches the pan. 

11 Stop ! " says Renard to himself, "I've thought 
of a way in which I'll get the start of that old 
trapper. I'll dig under his trap and touch the 
pan from beneath. That will spring the trap and 
won't catch my foot." This he does, as the 
northern trappers say he has often done, and 
carries away the bait in triumph. 

The trapper sees what has happened, and how 
Renard did it. "I will have you yet, old fellow/' 
he says. Again he places the bait and the trap 
as before, except that, this time, he turns the 
trap upside down. Renard repeats his former 
trick. He digs under the trap as before ; the 
jaws spring together, and alas ! he is the trap- 
per's prisoner at last. 

Dr. Rae desired to catch some arctic foxes, 
which are beautiful little animals with pure white 
fur. He set several different traps for them, but 
caught none, because the cunning fellows had 
learned all about these devices. Then he fixed 
a trap which was entirely new to the foxes. It 
consisted of a loaded gun, set on a stand, and 



3C 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 




pointed directly at the bait. A string, running 
under the snow about thirty yards, connected the 
trigger of the gun and the bait. Should the fox 
seize the bait, he would discharge the gun, and 
be sure to kill himself. This gun-trap killed one 
fox, but never a second. The crafty little rogues 
found the string under the snow, and carefully 
gnawing it in two, captured the bait without 
harm from the gun. 

Two gentlemen in New Jersey went out to 
hunt rabbits. In a low, bushy swamp the dogs 
started a fox, and off they went in swift pursuit. 
After a chase of two miles, the fox entered a 
dense thicket, and, making a circuit of the place, 
returned to the point from which he started. 



SAMSON AND THE FOXES. 37 

Here one of the sportsmen shot at him, and the 
fox fell, apparently dead. 

But he was not so dead as he seemed to be. 
As the hunter stooped to pick him up, instantly 
he rose upon his legs and escaped. For two 
hours and a half Renard practiced his wiles on 
the dogs in the thicket. But at last he was 
taken, carried home by the men, and thrown into 
a corner of the room. Now, surely, he seemed 
to be dead. 

The family sat down to supper. Finding all 
busily engaged, the fox ventured to look about, 
and raised himself on his fore legs ; but observ- 
ing that he was watched, he again pretended to 
be dead. One of the party, to ascertain whether 
he really was alive, passed a piece of burning 
paper under his nose. Renard was still appar- 
ently as senseless as a stone. However, he 
found that his cunning would not secure his free- 
dom, and he submitted with grace to his fate. 
The next morning he was as well as ever, ex- 
cepting a slight wound on his shoulder. 



9. SAMSON AND THE FOXES. 

When Samson, in his anger, undertook to 
punish the Philistines, he gathered three hun- 
dred foxes. These animals were jackals; not the 




38 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

" little foxes that spoil the vines." The way 
Samson made them serve his purpose, though 
cruel, was very ingenious. He wanted to burn 
the wheat-fields of the Philistines, and he meant 
the jackals should carry the fire. 

Of course, with fire-brands tied to their tails, 
they would run as fast as they could ; for all 

animals are afraid of 
fire ; even the lion will 
run from it. Foxes and 
jackals, when fright- 
ened, start directly for 
their homes. Samson, 
without doubt, knew 
JackaL this, and concluded 

that if he let them loose singly, each would 
run straight to his den. He therefore first tied 
their tails together, so that each would pull the 
other away from his den, and they would rush 
for the corn-field as the nearest refuge. Then to 
the tails, so connected, he attached the fire- 
brands. 

O what a whining and howling must have 
gone out from the throats of the three hundred 
frantic jackals, as they went scattering and pull- 
ing, wheeling and whisking, with flaming tails, 
through the standing corn! Samson may have 
rejoiced in his revenge, but the poor jackals! 
how did they feel, when, burned asunder, fright- 



THE KITTEN AND THE FALLING LEAVES. 39 

ened to distraction, and with singed and sore 
tails they went hurrying to their dens ? 



IO. THE KITTEN AND THE FALLING LEAVES. 

See the kitten on the wall, 
Sporting with the leaves that fall, 
Withered leaves — one — two — and three- 
From the lofty elder tree! 

But the kitten, how she starts, 
Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts ! 
First at one, and then its fellow, 
Just as light and just as yellow; 

There are many now — now one — 
Now they stop and there are none : 
What intenseness of desire 
In her upward eye of fire ! 

With a tiger-leap half way 
Now she meets the coming prey, 
Lets it go as fast, and then 
Has it in her power again : 

Now she works with three or four, 
Like an Indian conjurer; 
Quick as he in feats of art, 
Far beyond in joy of heart. 



4° 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



Were her antics played in the eye 
Of a thousand standers-by, 
Clapping hands with shout and stare, 
What would little Tabby care 

For the plaudits of the crowd? 
Overhappy to be proud, 
Overwealthy in the treasure 
Of her own exceeding pleasure ! 



II. VELVET PAWS AND COVERED CLAWS. 

Softlv, slyly, modestly, when the morning 
comes and the door is opened, she glides into 
the room on her velvet paws. She was at work 

_____ while others slept; 
now she will sleep 
while others work. 
The night was chilly, 
but she does n't mind 
the cold. The hearth 
is hot, but she likes 
the heat. She intends 

Cat's Paw Slightly Reduced. 1 i 

to seek a place warm 
enough to toast her through, but not hot enough 
to scorch her. There she will lie down, curl up, 
put up her nose, and have a royal sleep. 

First, however, she must rub against her mis- 
tress's dress, and sing a thrumming tune, just to 




VELVET PAWS AND COVERED CLAWS. 



4* 




show that she is still a friend. As for a moment 
she sits clown to meditate, reach for one of those 
velvet paws. She pulls it away from you. Puss 
is choice of the tools she hides in her paws. 
Presently she wants to stretch. She bends down 
her back, spreads out her fore feet, and scratches 
the floor. Now they are all out, — the sharp, 
hooked claws, which she draws back again each 
into its little sheath. 

And this is why she moves so still. She steps 
on her toes. If her claws, like those of the dog, 
were exposed, their keen points would wear off, 
and they would rattle as they strike the floor. 
But when they are drawn back into their covers, 
nothing- hits the floor but the soft cushions under 
the claws. 



42 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



jL£ 




Eye Contracted. 



Why must she be so careful of her claws ? Be- 
cause they help her to escape from danger, and 
assist her in catching her prey. When a dog 
gets after Puss she must dart up a tree, or climb 

to the top of a wall or 
fence, because she can 
not run so fast as her 
^ pursuer. Neither can 
she catch her game by 
running. To creep up 
to it without being 
heard, she must cover 
her claws. To seize 
and hold it fast when she springs upon it, she 
must uncover and throw out her claws. 

As Puss sits down and looks up and winks to 
her human friends, how 
dull her eyes appear. 
They were not so last 
night when the dark- 
ness was coming on. 
Then the pupils of her 
eyes widened out, and 
shone in the gloom 
like little moons. Now, 
when the glare of day 
touches them, the pupils contract, until only slits 
can be seen running up and down across the 
balls of her eyes. 




Eye Dilated. 



VELVET PAWS AND COVERED CLAWS. 43 

Eyes that can see in the dark are more nec- 
essary to the cat than to the dog, because she 
uses the nose less than he, and she prowls by 
night. More than the dog, too, does she need 
to hear the sly movements of her prey. Her 
ears, therefore, are erect, so as to catch the 
sound. A certain Chinese cat alone has droop- 
ing ears. Black cats have yellow eyes. White 
cats have eyes either blue or of a greenish color. 
When the cat's eyes are blue, its ears are usually 
deaf. 

PART 2. 

The cat has always been used by man to catch 
his mischievous pests. She can thrive by her 
own wits better than the dog can. Puss can go 
back to the woods and live like her wild ances- 
tors if she wants to. The dog would starve if 
left to himself. Some cats catch mice only, 
while others catch rats, and take little notice of 
mice. Cats show less affection for persons than 
dogs do, though they usually remember the 
hands that feed and pet them. They love home, 
as their wild ancestors loved their dens or lairs. 
They nearly always bring home their game be- 
fore they eat it. 

There are several kinds of cats. The common 
tabby is striped or brindled. The tortoise-shell 
is sandy, or fawn spotted with black. The Car- 



44 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

thusian or Maltese has long, soft, bluish hair, 
black soles on the feet, and black lips. The 
Angora or Persian cat, the largest and gentlest 
of all, has long, white, or yellowish hair. The 
Malay cat has a short tail. The Manx cat, whose 
home is the Isle of Man, has no tail. 

The tame cat was known in India, and was 
kept by the Egyptians more than two thousand 

years ago. The Egyp- 
tians worshiped this 
creature, partly because 
its eyes were like the 
sun. The ancient his- 
torian Herodotus said : 
''When a cat dies a 

Angora Cat. 1 i . i • i 

natural death in a house, 
the Egyptians shave off their eyebrows ; and, 
when a fire occurs, they are more anxious to 
save their cats than to put out the fire." 

The word cat does not occur in the Bible. 
Puss did not pur in Jacob's tent, nor did she lie 
in the lap of Joseph and Benjamin when they 
were children. What then became of the He- 
brew rats and mice ? A splendid time they must 
have had. 

But perhaps the Hebrews had no rats and 
mice. If so, it is easy to guess why. They 
lived in tents, and had no cellars or sewers. Or, 
if the rats troubled their corn, or mice nibbled 




DID THE CAT COUNT FOUR? 45 

their cheese, they may have used tame martens 
or weasels to catch them, as the Greeks did. 



12. DID THE CAT COUNT FOUR? 

My friend Mrs. Lyman lives in the country, 
and is a farmer's wife. She has no children, but 
possesses a number of pets. A canary hangs in 
the sunny window of the kitchen, and sings 
when the lady is at her housework. A large 
black and white dog, a hunter, eats his dinner 
from the same plate with Topsy the cat. The 
two lead peaceful lives, save now and then when 
the dinner is scanty. Topsy will give Mac a 
sharp pat with her claws if he takes the last 
mouthful. 

Behind the little farm-house rises a wooded 
hill, and across the road is a grove of pines. 
The dog and the cat often go hunting in these 
woods, and, I am sorry to say, Topsy has be- 
come quite expert in catching birds and squir- 
rels, when she craves meat. 

Last summer, Topsy was the happy mother of 
four kittens, as charming a little family as a cat- 
mother could desire. When Mrs. Lyman saw 
them in their bed in the back chamber, the 
mother being absent, she took two of the kittens 
away, thinking that Topsy had not gone far 



46 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

enough in arithmetic to count four. She was, 
perhaps, mistaken. 

When Topsy returned, she was very much 
disturbed at the loss of her two darlings. She 
suckled the remaining two, and then, leaving 
them asleep, went into the woods. When she 
returned, she brought with her two tiny new- 
born squirrels, and placed them in the bed be- 
side the kittens, cuddling close to them, and 
suckling them as she did her own young. 

In a week or two, one of the squirrels died, 
whether from grief at being taken from its own 
home in the woods, or from the new mode of 
treatment, I can not tell. But one grew up, and 
became a pet, not only of Topsy, but of the 
whole household. 

Bunny did not care to go to the woods, but 
built herself a nest under one of the beams of 
the wood-shed, going very often to see Mother 
Topsy in the back chamber. There was a hole 
cut in the wall through which she came and 
went. She did not take to mice like her foster- 
sisters, nor could Mother Topsy teach her the 
art of mousing. 

On the other hand, Topsy liked to catch squir- 
rels as well as ever. She often killed them for 
her supper. Yet she watched over bunny with 
jealous care, and once, when the squirrel fell 
among some boards in the shed, and could not 



THE CAT'S WAYS. 47 

get out, Topsy pulled her out with her teeth, and 
carried her as tenderly as if she had never known 
squirrel meat. It was a very happy family — 
Mac, Topsy, the two kittens, the squirrel, and 
the canary. 

But the question is, Did Topsy count four ? 



13. THE CAT S WAYS. 



She is not always soft and amiable. She can 
"spit" as well as pur. She can be trained to 
like the dog if the dog will treat her kindly, 
and then she may lie between his paws on the 
hearth. But should a hard-hearted dog attack 
her, she grows angry and looks ugly. She lays 
back her ears, shows her thirty sharp teeth, 
arches her back, and raises her tail and hair. 
And if Carlo does not let her alone, his cheeks 
will know what her velvet paws conceal. 

Old Puss has a habit of playing with the 
mouse she has caught, before eating it. This 
performance seems to amuse her, as it certainly 
pleases the human spectators who behold it. To 
the poor mouse it is any thing but agreeable to 
be frightened and tossed in this way. If in this 
thoughtless sport Puss seems a little cruel, it is 
gratifying to know that she has better traits, and 
that she is truly kind and benevolent. Some 



4 8 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 




An Angry Cat. 



anecdotes told by trustworthy persons will illus- 
trate her better nature : 

11 One day my house cat rushed into my room, 
having in her mouth a sparrow she had caught 

in the garden. Scarcely 
had Puss entered the 
room, when she set the 
bird free, quite likely 
for the purpose of play- 
ing with it, as cats play 
w T ith mice before eating 
them. The sparrow, 
having one of its wings 
injured, could not get away by flying, but boldly 
attacked its enemy by planting fierce blows on 
her nose with its beak. The cat was astonished, 
and beat a retreat. 

" From that moment the two seemed to forget 
their natural instincts, and came to be fast 
friends. They ate, played, and slept together. 
Often the sparrow was carried about the house 
on the cat's back, or gently in her mouth. 
When feeding together, Puss never touched a 
morsel till her friend had first partaken. Many 
of my friends came to see the strange sight, and 
were amused at the way in which the friendly 
pair acted. One morning, the sparrow seeing the 
window open — its wings being in good order — 
took its flight, and I saw it no more/' 



THE CAT'S WAYS. 49 

PART 2. 

" A cat, having had three out of her five kit- 
tens taken from her, was found, the next morn- 
ing, to have replaced them by three young rats. 
These she suckled together with her own young. 
A few days afterwards, her other two kittens 
were taken from her, and, on the following day, 
she put in their place two more young rats, 
which she continued to nurse with the others. 
It was an interesting sight to see a cat cherish- 
ing the young of her natural prey. The cat was 
an excellent rat catcher, and this added still more 
interest to her strange conduct. " 

" Our cat was seen to take out some fish- 
bones from the house to the garden. Being 
followed, she was observed to place them in 
front of a strange cat, who was miserably thin, 
and who eagerly devoured them. Not satisfied 
with this one act of kindness, she returned to 
the house, got a fresh supply of food, and re- 
peated her charity to the hungry guest, who 
seemed very grateful. When this was done, our 
cat went back to her customary dining place, ate 
the remaining fish-bones, and seemed to be 
satisfied and happy/' 

Puss is also wise and cunning. She can not 
learn to perform tricks as readily as the dog, but 

F. A.— 4. 



5<D FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

she does more shrewd things without being 
taught. In many instances cats have been seen 
pressing the thumb-piece of a door-latch so as 
to open the door. And Mr. Romanes says he 
has many times seen his coachman's cat, not 
only pressing down the thumb-piece with her fore 
paw, but pushing against the door-casing with 
her hind feet, so as to force the door open. 

Mr. Mivart makes mention of a cat who had 
discovered an ingenious method of catching birds. 
She was in the habit of getting on a cow's back, 
and riding till the cow happened to approach her 
game. The birds little suspected what the in- 
offensive cow bore crouching on her back. The 
friend who witnessed this trick says that by 
this means the cat managed to catch birds which 
otherwise it would never have got. 

A lady in Missouri owns a large and beautiful 
blue cat, less than a year old, who, without any 
instruction, has come to perform a number of 
tricks quite unusual for a cat. One very cunning 
thing he does is to ring a little chestnut, or joke- 
bell ; and he frequently turns the laugh on his 
mistress by ringing the bell when she is telling 
some story about her cat. 

When this cat is hungry for a mouse, he brings 
the trap to his mistress to be set, and then goes, 
frequently, to see if the desired mouse has been 
caught. When the cat finds the little prisoner 



PUSS'S COUNTRY COUSINS. 



Si 



behind the bars, he again takes the trap to some 
person who will let out the mouse for him. He 
makes no effort to catch mice in the ordinary 
way. 




Family of Leopards. 



14. PUSS S COUNTRY COUSINS. 

How do they look? Some of them may be 
seen in the menageries and in the zoological 
gardens. There are more than fifty kinds of 
them in their wild homes, but ten kinds are as 
many as we ever see. There is no doubt that 
they belong to the same great family with Puss. 

They look like her, except that they are larger; 
their faces are not so cheerful as hers is, and 
they are not so quiet. They walk back and 



52 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

forth, and fret. Their confinement is not agree- 
able to them, however pleasant it may be to us 
to think they are behind those strong bars. 

The keeper wisely cautions visitors not to go 
too near the cages. But sometimes a boy thinks 
he knows better than the keeper. He disobeys 
the rule, and is frightened or injured for his 
rash conduct. 

A boy recently ventured within the guard-rail 
of the tiger's cage, when one of the animals 
struck him with his huge paws, lifted him from 
the floor, and held the screaming lad in his 
grasp until the keeper released him by a hard 
blow on the tiger's foot. The great sharp claws 
went through the boy's heavy coats and under- 
garments, and left marks in his skin. 

After such an impressive lesson, the boy must 
have known that the tiger, like the tame cat, 
has sharp, retractile claws. So have the other 
nine sorts of cats. But to learn about these 
claws it is not necessary to be pinched or 
scratched by them. 

The eyes, properly used, are sufficient, and 
they will prove that the wild cousins have cush- 
ioned paws, and legs, ears, tails, teeth, whiskers, 
and supple bodies, like those of Puss on the rug. 
A slight difference occurs in the eyes of some 
of them. The pupils of their eyes, when they 
contract, always appear round, and never draw 



PUSS'S COUNTRY COUSINS. 53 

into a slit, as is the case with Puss in the day- 
time. 

Where are their native homes? The lion is 
at home in Africa and in southern Asia. He 
frequents the forest and the sandy plain. The 
tiger hides in the grassy jungles of India. The 
leopard and panther, which are the same animal, 
abound in tropical Asia, and in nearly the whole 
of Africa. The ounce is a northern leopard, and 
is found in Asia as far north as Siberia. The 
cheetah, or hunting leopard, lives in Africa and 
India. Its nose, legs, and feet, as well as its 
habits, are quite dog-like. The jaguar, called the 
American tiger, is found in southern Texas and 
South America. The ocelot's home is from Ar- 
kansas far into South America. It is called the 
tiger-cat. 

The puma is the American or mountain lion. 
It is commonly called the panther. Cougar and 
painter are its other names. Like all the cats 
it is afraid of fire ; and the hunter feels safe from 
its attacks when his camp is lighted by a blazing 
fire. The puma has lived in every part of this 
country before the land was settled, and still 
abides in the wilder regions. The wild cat is 
a native of Europe, and appears like the tame 
striped cat. A spotted or a red lynx, with 
pointed ears and short tail, is the common wild 
cat of our forests. 



54 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 




Tiger's Foot. Claw Sheathed and Unsheathed. 



PART 2. 



How do the ten wild cousins live and act ? 
Like Puss, they catch other animals for food. 
All of them, except the cheetah, step softly on 
their cushioned pads. Even the great tiger 
walks as quietly and with as little noise as a 
kitten. All, except the lion, tiger, and perhaps 
the cheetah, climb trees. 

The cheetah in India is often tamed, and is 
used by the hunter to chase and catch the ante- 
lope. He is the only one of the wild cats that 
tries to catch its prey by running it down. The 
leopard likes monkeys when he can catch them. 
The American lion, or puma, springs upon the 
shoulders of a deer, draws back its head, and 
breaks its neck. 

The other great cats leap from their hiding- 



PUSS'S COUNTRY COUSINS. 5 q 

places upon the backs or necks of deer, zebras, 
horses, cattle, and other large and harmless ani- 
mals. The jaguar, lying flat upon the branch of 
a tree, springs upon the peccaries or wild pigs, 
kills one, and then leaps back upon the branch 
to wait until the rest of the herd, which might 
overpower him, has disappeared. Then he de- 
scends and eats his pig. The lion and tiger do 
not pur. The leopard, the puma, and the cheetah 
pur, and so, it is quite likely, do the smaller rela- 
tives of the home cat. 

Puss may well be proud of her wild cousins ; 
they are so large, handsome, and graceful, and 
one of them has the blood of royalty in his veins. 
Let us place these ten cats in a tapering row 
with Puss at the small end. She will measure, 
from nose to tail, twenty inches. Next above 
her will come the lynx, wild cat, and ocelot, all 
about two and a half feet long. After these lit- 
tle cats come the puma, leopard, cheetah, ounce, 
and jaguar; they are about four feet long and 
two feet high. 

Now we reach the tiger, and then the lion ; 
each ten feet long and three feet high. There 
is a wide contrast between little Puss mewing at 
the foot of the row, and the lion at its head, 
weighing five hundred pounds, showing his hu- 
man face, shaking his lordly mane, and waking 
the echoes in the forest by the thunder of his 



56 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



roar. Yet little Puss can beat him at catching 
a mouse or playing with the baby. Puss is "the 
lion of mice." 

Now let us group the cousins according to the 
color of their coats. The animals confined in the 
cages are not so fine in appearance as are those 
which are free in their native homes. The Afri- 
can lion has an immense blackish mane. The 
color of the Asiatic lion and the American puma 

is tawny, or red- 
dish-yellow. The 
rest of the ten are 
all either striped or 
spotted. The main 
color of their coats 
is nearly like that 
of the lion. 

The tiger wears 
black stripes around 
his body, legs, and tail. The leopard and jaguar 
have black spots made of small spots grouped in 
rosettes. Mark the difference between the two. 
The leopard's rosettes are scattered irregularly 
over the skin; the jaguar's run along the body 
in rows. The cheetah has round solid spots, 
and the ounce has dark rings. The ocelot has 
tiger-like stripes, but they are broken, and run 
lengthwise of the body. So the spotted cousins 
may easily be distinguished. 




Jaguar. 



DOG-LIKE CATS. 



57 




Cheetah and Ocelot. 



The color of the cats is much like the objects 
about them, and for this reason helps to conceal 
them from the hunter, and from their prey, when 
they are lying in wait for it. The stripes of the 
tiger look like the shadows of the jungle-grass 
in which he lurks. The scattered spots of the 
leopard and jaguar resemble the shadow-spots 
of the leaves on the trees, where these cats are 
silently watching. So the tawny robe of the lion 
is like the sandy plain on which he crouches. 



15. DOC-!. IKK CATS. 



Any careful observer who saw a cheetah for 
the first time, would notice the striking points of 
difference between it and the true cats. The 



58 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

shorter body, longer legs, and distinct nose, give 
it almost a dog's appearance, which is increased 
when the animal carries its tail much in the same 
manner as a dog. 

The gait of the cheetah differs entirely from 
that of the cats, and its whole form is fitted for 
great speed. Indeed this is the only member 
of the group of cats which captures its prey by 
running it down. Its disposition when young is 
altogether more dog-like, and it will follow its 
master, whether on foot or on horseback, with 
much appearance of attachment. None of the 
tropical cats would submit to the handling nec- 
essary for training the cheetah to hunt. 

The sport of hunting leopards by means of 
trained cheetahs has often been described. They 
are hooded, and are carried on a cart with a plat- 
form, from which they are let loose on approach- 
ing game. All writers are agreed about the 
immense speed shown by these animals when 
let loose at the game. To the hunters this part 
of the sport is very exciting. 

The fleetest of antelopes rarely escape the 
rush of the cheetah which has once got a good 
sight of his game; and it has been said that a 
greyhound can not run upon a doe where a 
cheetah will most certainly pull it down. In 
some instances the animal shows its cat-like nat- 
ure by crouching and dodging, or waiting for the 



DOG-LIKE CATS. 



59 



game to cross its track. It is usually reluctant 
to renew the chase in case of failure. 

Jerdon's description of the manners of his 
cheetah impresses one favorably with the do- 
cility of these dog-like cats. It played kindly 
with the dogs, followed him about on horseback, 
purred like a cat when fondled, and behaved 
admirably with human beings generally. When 
roused, however, the animal becomes as formid- 
able an antagonist 
as any of the larger 
wild cats. 

The hyena is, in 
many respects, even 
more like a dog. 
The teeth are pe- 
culiar, the claws are 
not at all retractile, 
the head is roughly 
shaped, and the 
voice is a short 
bark like the laugh 
of a human being. 
Hyenas associate in 
packs, and dig up dead carcasses — habits that 
belong to the dog kind. They frequent burying- 
grounds and follow the track of travelers. No 
other flesh-eater is provided with so powerful a 
bone-mill in the jaws. It is an easy task for a 



- 


Jfei> 








^JBI 






- > ; * 


WmrWm 


'mSM;, 




W^Sm^- 


Sw^^Bti 


mil 


1^*V: 


■ 



Hyenas. 



60 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

hyena to break the largest bones of the horse 
to obtain his favorite tid-bit, the marrow. 

The capacity for digesting bone, too, is as- 
tonishing. The keeper of the zoological gardens 
told me that he once threw six of the shank- 
bones of a sheep to a hyena, and the animal, in- 
stead of crushing them, tossed up his head and 
swallowed them whole, one after the other. After 
such a performance it is little wonder the man 
should remark : " I can't think how he could turn 
round with those things in him." However, the 
beast suffered no special inconvenience from his 
greediness. 

All travelers agree in giving the hyena the 
character of a mean, cowardly beast, though very 
destructive to flocks when a pack makes a raid 
at night. Livingstone quaintly says: "His cour- 
age resembles that of a turkey-cock. He will 
bite if an animal is running away ; but if the ani- 
mal stands still, so does he." 



1 6. THE TIGER. 



Tiger ! tiger ! burning bright 
In the forest of the night, 
What immortal hand or eye 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 



GIANT CATS AND THEIR FAMILIES. 6l 

In what distant deeps or skies 
Burn'd the ardor of thine eyes? 
On what wings dare he aspire? 
What the hand dare seize the fire ? 

And what shoulder, and what art, 
Could twist the sinews of thy heart ? 
And when thy heart began to beat, 
What dread hand forged thy dread feet? 

What the hammer, what the chain ? 
In what furnace was thy brain? 
What the anvil; what dread grasp 
Dare its deadly terrors clasp ? 

When the stars threw down their spears, 
And water'd heaven with their tears, 
Did he smile his work to see? 
Did he who made the lamb make thee ? 

Tiger ! tiger ! burning bright, 
In the forest of the night, 
What immortal hand or eye 
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? 



17. GIANT (ATS AND THEIR FAMILIES. 

The lion, for a great many centuries, has been 
called the king ol beasts. He looks like a king. 
No animal can roar as he can. Before powder 



62 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



was known or rifles were used, the lion was al- 
ways a terror to the natives in their small vil- 
lages. 

The lion lives from thirty to forty years. In 
Algeria, a single lion will kill in a year a thou- 
sand dollars' worth of horses, cattle, and camels. 




Family of Lions. 



When he gets old, and his teeth and claws are 
worn so that he can no more throw down the 
antelope or zebra, he sometimes falls into catch- 
ing and carrying away women and old men. 
He is then called a man-eater. 

If the lion is king of beasts by what he seems 
to be, the tiger is king by what he is and does. 



GIANT CATS AND THEIR FAMILIES. 6$ 

The tiger is larger, stronger, and fiercer than 
the lion. 

A great tiger, twelve years old, killed by Col- 
onel Ramsey, measured as follows : His length 
was twelve feet ; his tail three feet nine inches ; 
his height at the shoulder three and a half feet. 
The measurement around his body was five and 
a quarter feet ; around his fore leg two feet and 
ten inches ; the length of his upper canine-teeth 
three inches. What a blow could be dealt by 
that fore leg, as large as a man's body, and 
tipped with five sharp claws each three inches 
long ! 

With their spears the natives kill the lion, but 
not the tiger. In a fight, the tiger overcomes 
the lion. He can spring thirty feet. He will 
kill an ox every five days. ' k He is the largest 
and most powerful of all existing cats." 

Yet there are much smaller and weaker ani- 
mals that conquer the giant cats. A gentleman 
writing from his thatched cottage, or bungalow, 
in Bengal, says: " Now I'll tell you a funny 
thing which happened about a hundred and fifty 
yards from my bungalow. A very large tiger 
had a fight with a wild pig, and which do you 
think won? Why, the pig. The tiger was 
found dead in the garden, with wounds all over 
him, ribs broken, and a severe gash in the 
shoulder." 



64 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

The giant cats live in families, some descrip- 
tions of which are quite interesting: "I once 
had the pleasure of seeing a lion family feed- 
ing, I was in Zululand. One evening; walking 
out about half a mile from camp, I saw a herd 
of zebras galloping before me. When they were 
about two hundred yards away, a yellow body 
flashed towards the leader, who fell beneath the 
lion's weight. 

"There was a tall tree about sixty yards from 
the place. Anxious to see what went on, I 
walked to the tree and climbed it, while the 
lion was too much occupied to look about. By 
this time he had quite killed the beautiful striped 
animal, but instead of eating it, he got up and 
roared loudly until there was an answer. 

"In a few minutes a lioness, with four whelps, 
came trotting up. She came from the same di- 
rection as the zebra, which, no doubt, she had 
gone to drive towards her husband. They formed 
a fine picture as they all stood round the car- 
cass, the whelps tearing and biting it, but un- 
able to get through the tough skin. Then the 
lion lay down. 

"The lioness, driving her whelps before her, 
also lay down four or five yards off. Immedi- 
ately the lion rose, and began to eat. As soon 
as he had finished a hind leg, he retired a few 
yards to one side. The lioness came up next, 



GIANT CATS AND THEIR FAMILIES. 65 

and tore the carcass to shreds, swallowing huge 
mouthfuls, but not objecting to the whelps eat- 
ing as much as they could find. 

''There was a good deal of snarling among 
these young lions, and occasionally a stand-up 
fight. But their mother did not take any notice 
of them, except to give them a smart blow with 
her paw, if they got in the way. 

" Little was left of the zebra now but a few 
bones, which hundreds of vultures were circling 
round, waiting to pick up. The whole lion fam- 
ily walked quietly away, the lioness leading, and 
the lion, often turning to see if they were fol- 
lowed, bringing up the rear." 

PART 2. 

Here is an account of another royal family: 
"Some years ago, an Englishman in India was 
waited on by some native villagers, and urged 
to kill a man-eating tigress, who had carried 
away from the village five grown persons and a 
child about ten years old. A few days after- 
ward, he went to the village, prepared to com- 
ply with the request of the people, and found 
that an old woman had disappeared, leaving her 
bloody and tattered garments in the jungle. 

" He ordered a platform to be built in a tree 
about thirty yards from the open glade; and, 

Y. A.-5. 



66 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

just after dark, an old cow was securely tethered 
in the open space. The gentleman, with his 
servant, mounted the platform to await the tiger. 
Twilight passed, and the moon rose, sending its 
beams across the glade, and fell on the open 
space where the old cow stood lowing, and lit- 
tle thinking that she was calling her enemy to 
supper. 

" Hour after hour passed, and the watcher sat 
motionless and attentive, with his large rifle 
nicely balanced on a fork of the tree. The night 
was getting old, and the moonlight was passing 
away from the glade, when suddenly a tiger 
bounded noiselessly from cover, and crouched 
right in front of the cow. 

"The tiger, in no hurry for supper, dashed at 
the frightened cow, and stopped short, then 
gamboled round like a kitten at play, jumping 
over the cow's back, and enjoying the struggles 
of the poor beast to break from her tether. The 
cow frequently put her head down to charge her 
enemy, but the tiger slipped out of the way like 
a snake. 

" The reason for these cunning movements soon 
appeared. Two large cubs sneaked out of the 
jungle and came to their mother, to learn a les- 
son in the art of cow-killing. For some minutes 
more, the tigress continued to vex the cow for 
the benefit of the little monsters. 



GIANT CATS AND THEIR FAMILIES. 



67 




Tigress and Cubs. 



" During the whole time, the tigress was so 
active that it was impossible to give her a suc- 
cessful shot. This the gentleman desired to do, 
that he might save the cow, and at the same 
time bag her enemy. When she was satisfied 
with the amusement, and with the instruction 
given to the cubs, the tigress suddenly crouched, 
and sprang upon the shoulder of the cow, bring- 
ing her to the ground. 

" After a few moments of desperate struggling, 
the poor beast ceased to move. The tigress 
then quietly sat down, contemplating her victim 
with her back turned to the rifle in the tree. In 
an instant a large ball went crashing through 
her back and she was dead." 



68 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



1 8. RATS. 



What has happened in England has happened 
elsewhere : the Norway, or brown rat, has de- 
stroyed the original rat of the country. He has 
taken sole possession of every haunt and lurking- 
place where he can be warm and dry, and at the 
same time find food in abundance. 

He has many enemies and few friends. Wher- 
ever he appears, his life is in danger from men, 
dogs, cats, and owls, who have no mercy on him. 
These constant persecutions make him cunning, 
and give his little sharp face a knowing and wide- 
awake appearance. 

Though the poor creature is hated and killed 
by man, yet he is to that same ungrateful man 
a most useful servant. He quietly takes posses- 
sion of out-houses and drains, and devours the 
refuse thrown from the dwellings of his master. 
This refuse, if left to decay, would create mala- 
ria, fever, and all kinds of horrors, were it not 
for the efforts of the rats to get rid of it by eat- 
ing it. 

The rat has four small, long, and very sharp 
teeth, two in the upper jaw, and two in the 
under jaw. They are formed in the shape of a 
wedge, and have always a very fine cutting edge. 
At the same time the teeth grow up from the 



RATS. 



6 9 




Brown Rat. 



bottom, so that, as they wear away, a fresh sup- 
ply is ready. The tail is to the rat a most use- 
ful member. It is composed of a chain of small 
bones, with muscles to move them, like the tails 
of some monkeys, and 
is a sort of a hand to 
the rat. 

Rats have a wonder- 
ful instinct for finding 
out where there is any 
thing good ; and it has 
often been wondered 
how they manage to get on board ships loaded 
with sugar and other good things. But they 
have been seen to come from the shore to the 
ship by means of the rope by which she is tied 
to the wharf. By the same means they leave 
the ship when she comes into port, if they find 
their quarters filling with water. Hence the say- 
ing that, "rats always leave a sinking ship," is 
perfectly true. 

They are not selfish animals. Having found 
out where food is stored, they will kindly tell 
their friends and neighbors. 

A rat always washes himself all over, after 
eating, just as a cat does, by licking the paws. 
A rat, though living among garbage, is always 
neat in person, and his teeth are always beau- 
tifully clean. When a rat eats, he gnaws away, 



70 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

by means of his sharp teeth, a mouthful, which 
he puts in a sort of pouch formed between his 
grinding teeth and his cheeks; then he stops 
gnawing and chews his food. 

When a rat drinks, he laps up the fluid like 
a dog, and does not suck it up like a sheep. A 
rat generally tastes his food with his tongue be- 
fore eating it. It is curious to see him asleep. 
It is as difficult to catch a rat asleep as it is a 
weasel. He coils himself into a ball, and places 
his nose between his hind legs. His tail is 
curled up around the outside of his body. He 
then looks like a mass of hair. No part of his 
body projects but his two delicate ears, which 
are beautifully adapted for catching the least 
sound. 



19. CUNNING RATS. 



I knew a worthy whipmaker who worked hard 
at his trade to support a large family. He had 
prepared a number of strips of leather by oiling 
them. He carefully laid them away in a box, 
but, strange to say, they disappeared, one by 
one. 

One day, as he was sitting at work in his shop, 
a large black rat slyly poked his head up out of 
a hole in the corner of the room, and calmly 
took a survey of the whole place. Seeing all 



CUNNING RATS. 7 I 

quiet, out he came and ran straight for the box 
of leather straps. In he dived, and quickly re- 
appeared, carrying in his mouth the most dainty 
morsel he could find. Off he ran to his hole, 
and quickly vanished. 

Having thus found out the thief, the sad- 
dler determined to catch him. He accordingly 
propped up a sieve with a stick, and put a bait 
underneath. In a few minutes out came the rat 
again, smelling the toasted cheese, and forthwith 
attacked it. The moment he began nibbling the 
bait, down came the sieve, and he became a 
prisoner. 

The whipmaker lifted up the sieve, being 
armed with a stick ready to kill Mr. Rat when 
he rushed out. What was his astonishment to 
see that the rat remained perfectly quiet, and, 
after a few moments, walked up on his arm, and 
looked him in the face, as much as to say, " I am 
a poor, innocent rat, and if your wife will lock 
up all her good things in the cupboard, why, I 
must eat your nice straps ; rats must live as well 
as whipmakers." 

The man then said, " Tom, I was going to kill 
you, but now I won't; let us be friends. I'll put 
you some bread and butter every day if you will 
not take my straps and wax, and will leave the 
shopman's breakfast alone. But I am afraid you 
will come out once too often. There arc lots 



72 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



of dogs and cats about, who won't be so kind to 
you as I am; you may go now." 

He then put him down, and Mr. Rat leisurely 
retreated to his hole. For a long time afterward, 
he found his breakfast regularly placed for him 
at the mouth of his hole, in re- 
turn for which he became quite 
tame. He would accompany 
his master into the stable, 
when he went to feed 
the pony, and would 
pick up the corn as it 
fell from the manger, 
keeping himself 
/ ^\ away from the 
His "% ^ J|^ pony's legs, 

delight 
was to bask 
on the warm 

dow-sill, stretching his full 
length to the midday sun. This 
unfortunate habit proved his destruc 
tion ; for one very hot day, as he lay at h 
ease, a dog belonging to the neighboring bird- 
shop espied him, and instantly dashed at him 
through the window. The poor rat, who was 
asleep at the time, awoke, alas! too late to save 
his life. The cruel dog caught him, and took 
him into the road where he soon finished him. 





is 



THE RAT'S RELATIONS. 73 



20. THE RAT S RELATIONS. 

Among the numerous rat-like animals that 
have gnawing teeth are the mice that nibble the 
cheese, and the field-mice spoken of in the Bi- 
ble as "the mice that mar the land." The rat 
is really a mouse, and his small cousin is a little 
mouse. Both have the same form. Their sharp 
claws, their ears, teeth, and whiskers with which 
they feel the sides of their holes, are all alike. 

The mouse is affectionate, and likes every- 
body in the house except the dog, the cat, and 
those who are after its life. A German baron 
was once confined in a prison during ten years. 
His only companion was a mouse which he had 
tamed, and which became strongly attached to 
him. Having been taken from the baron, the 
mouse watched at the door, and when it was 
opened, crept in. Being again removed, it re- 
fused all food and died in a few days. 

Mice are fond of music. An officer confined 
in the Bastile begged to be allowed to play his 
flute, to soothe his feelings by its melody. When 
playing on the instrument, he was much surprised 
to see a number of mice come frisking out of 
their holes, and many spiders letting themselves 
down by their webs. Whenever he ceased, they 
went away; and whenever he played again they 



74 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

came back. He soon had an audience amount- 
ing to a hundred mice and spiders. 

Mice sometimes make music. A noted natu- 
ralist says: " I once had presented to me a 
mouse which was a great singer. Placing the 
cage in my bedroom, I turned off the gas and 
retired, but with grave doubts that it would favor 
me with a song. In a few moments, however, 
the little musician piped up, and sang very pret- 
tily. 

" It was not squeaking, but singing in a high 
key, something like a weak-voiced canary bird. 
Listening for some time till I grew sleepy, I 
placed the prima donna in the next room, at 
least twenty feet from my bed, the door being 
open between. But even then the singing was 
loud enough to disturb me, and I had to carry 
the little creature down stairs before I could get 
sleep." 

The common cotton-tail rabbit gnaws the fruit- 
trees, and burrows in the ground. It is some- 
times caught by boys in apple-baited traps. A 
long string is fastened to the limb of a tree and 
dropped to the ground, having a slip-noose in 
the end. The limb is bent down and held by a 
figure four made of wood, and fastened to the 
ground. An apple is put on the long arm of 
the figure four, and just before it the noose is 
laid. When the rabbit begins to gnaw the apple, 



THE RAT'S RELATIONS. 



75 




Rabbits and Hares. 



the figure four falls in pieces, the limb springs 
up, and the noose catches the body of poor 
bunny and holds him a prisoner. 

Hares are larger and longer than rabbits, have 
longer legs and ears, and do not burrow. They 
have a droll look when seen from behind, so 
much so that the large hares of the far west are 
called jackass-rabbits. Gophers are smaller than 
rabbits, and resemble more nearly the rat. They 
are the pests of north-western fields, in which 
they dig a multitude of holes, and nearly always 
dodge back into the holes before they can be 
shot. The gopher has a soft brown fur and is 
about eigrht inches longr. 



7 6 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



PART 2. 

The guinea-pig is neither a pig nor a native 
of Guinea. It comes from Guiana. There is 
little about it like the rat, except its teeth. Its 
head is large for the body, its nose is very 
blunt, and its tail is a mere stump. Guinea-pigs 
are small, and are gentle, harmless pets. 

The beaver weighs about fifty pounds, and is 
as large, though not so high as a spaniel dog. 

His feet, tail, and gnaw- 
ing teeth are the tools 
with which he does his 
work. Beavers work in 
companies. They build 
houses or lodges above 
ground, and, for safety, 
make burrows under ground. The holes to these 
burrows must be under water where their ene- 
mies can not see them. 

For this reason they build dams, so as to 
keep the water always above the doors to their 
underground houses. The dam is made across 
a running stream. It is commenced by a single 
pair or family. It is then added to by others, 
from year to year, and lasts for centuries. Made 
of sticks and mud, it usually curves or arches up- 
stream. In the autumn beavers lay up stores 




Guinea-pig-. 



THE RATS RELATIONS. 



77 



of wood for winter use. They can gnaw through 
trees a foot and a half in diameter. 

Beavers work mostly by night. They often 
construct canals for floating sticks of wood to 
their lodges. This wood is used both for house- 
building and for food. One of the canals was 
found to be over five hundred feet long. In 
swimming, beav- 
ers use their tails 
as sculls, and their 
hind feet, which 
are webbed, for 
paddles. Their 
tails are also used 
for carrying stones 
and dirt. 

In the squirrel 
family belong the 

gray, the black, Beavers - 

and the red squirrels, flying squirrels, chipmunks, 
and woodchucks. These all have the rat's gnaw- 
ing teeth, but they are tree climbers, and use 
their hands with great ease. A familiar object 
in the woods is the gray squirrel sitting on a 
branch, curling his tail over his back, and turn- 
ing over and over in his handy paws a nut, and 
showing how his chisel teeth can cut through a 
hard shell. 

The common squirrel makes long leaps from 




78 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



tree to tree, but the flying squirrel makes much 
longer jumps. A loose skin stretches out be- 
tween its fore and hind feet on each side, so that 
when it springs into the air it sails like a para- 
chute. It does not really fly. 

The striped chipmunk, or ground squirrel, 
with his cheeks full of nuts he intends to gnaw, 
scuds along the lowest rail of the fence to his 
hole in the ground, or sits up holding his nut to 
his teeth. The woodchuck, or ground-hog, 

sometimes climbs a low 
bushy tree, though his 
house is in the ground. 
He is much larger than 
the gray squirrel. He 
sleeps like a bear, nearly 
all winter. In the early 
spring he comes out to 
see what the weather is. This event is said to 
happen on a certain day which is called " ground- 
hog-day," and by some people is thought to de- 
cide what the weather will be for the following 
six weeks. 

Prairie-dogs build little villages of ground- 
houses, which are slightly raised mounds, with 
many holes for entrances leading to nests within. 
It was once thought that owls and rattlesnakes 
lived peaceably with the dogs in their houses, 
but this has been proved a mistake. The owl 




Chipmunk. 



RED RIDING-HOOD. 79 

sometimes makes her nest in the hole which the 
dogs have abandoned, and the rattlesnake comes 
to get the eggs of the owl, while the owl watches 
for a meal of young snakes. Prairie-dogs gnaw 
roots and herbs, and sit up like the woodchuck, 
shaking themselves, with an absurd bark, some- 
thing like the bark of a dog. This circumstance 
gives them their name. They may be tamed, 
and will then live in holes in the yard, coming 
to be fed when called, and taking food from the 
hand. 



2 1. RED RIDING-HOOD. 



Ox the wide lawn the snow lay deep, 
Ridged o'er with many a drifted heap ; 
The wind that through the pine-trees sung 
The naked elm boughs tossed and swung ; 
While, through the window, frosty-starred, 
Against the sunset purple barred, 
We saw the somber crow flap by, 
The hawk's gray fleck along the sky, 
The crested blue-jay flitting swift, 
The squirrel poising on the drift, 
Erect, alert, his thick gray tail 
Set to the north wind like a sail. 

It came to pass, our little lass, 

With flattened face against the Mass, 



80 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

And eyes in which the tender dew 

Of pity shone, stood gazing through 

The narrow space her rosy lips 

Had netted from the frost's eclipse : 

" Oh, see," she cried, " the poor blue-jays ! 

What is it that the black crow says ? 

The squirrel lifts his little legs 

Because he has no hands, and begs ; 

He's asking for my nuts, I know; 

May I not feed them on the snow ? " 

Half lost within her boots, her head 
Warm-sheltered in her hood of red, 
Her plaid skirt close about her drawn, 
She floundered down the wintry lawn ; 
Now struggling through the misty veil 
Blown round her by the shrieking gale ; 
Now sinking in a drift so low 
Her scarlet hood could scarcely show 
Its dash of color on the snow. 

She dropped for bird and beast forlorn 

Her little store of nuts and corn, 

And thus her timid guests bespoke : 

44 Come, squirrel, from your hollow oak — 

Come, black old crow — come, poor blue-jay, 

Before your supper's blown away ! 

Don't be afraid ; we all are good ; 

And I'm mamma's Red Riding-Hood! ' 



THE GRAY SQUIRREL. 



81 



2 2. THE GRAY SQUIRREL. 



The habits of this squirrel are very interest- 
ing. You may be walking through the woods. 
Shortly you hear what you at first think to be 
the barking of a small dog. On listening you 
discover your mistake. The abrupt notes " qtta- 
qua-que" with much chattering, proceed from 
the tall tree a few rods from you. 

You cautiously steal on tip-toe to the foot of 
the tree, but you do not see the animal even 
after looking carefully on every side. You know 
the little fellow is there, 
for he could not possi- 
bly have gone out of 
the tree unless you had 
seen him. Now, if you 
go close to the trunk, 
and step quickly to the 
other side, you will see 
him away up at the top. 
He will suddenly whisk 
himself to the opposite 
side from you, where he is now closely hugging 
the tree and perfectly motionless. 

Your interest is now awakened; you are curi- 
ous to see more of him. Very well; you must 
retire a few yards, and remain perfectly quiet. 

F. A. -6. 




Gray Squirrel. 



82 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

You had better take a comfortable seat, for he 
will not move while you are near the tree. 
Presently you see his head with its bright, lively 
eyes, moving round to the side where you are 
standing. 

If you remain perfectly still, he will soon take 
his position on a limb where he will express his 
satisfaction at your removal from his neighbor- 
hood by several chirping barks. This noise will 
be answered, perhaps, by other squirrels that 
you had no thought were in the neighborhood. 
Soon, one of them, with a saucy bark or chatter, 
chases another; and shortly three or four of 
them are scampering about, running through the 
underbrush and fallen wood, and up and down 
the trees in high sport. 

Presently, one of them, in escaping from the 
others, comes suddenly near you. With a shrill 
whistle of astonishment at seeing you, he scam- 
pers up the nearest tree, and is soon as com- 
pletely hidden as all the others were the instant 
he gave the alarm. You may as well retire 
now, for you will see nothing more of them. As 
long as you remain near they will not budge a 
single foot. 

The gray squirrel makes a very interesting 
pet in confinement. We had one, last summer, 
for a pet, and she was full of fun and frolic. 
She was taken from her parents' nest when she 



THE WOODCHUCK AND HIS SKIN. 83 

was hardly a week old, and was reared by hand. 
Of course she was perfectly tame and gentle. 
She soon learned to recognize the members of 
the family, and would know a stranger at once. 
She was very affectionate, and never seemed 
happy unless she was in our lap, or in one of 
our pockets, where she could cuddle herself up 
for a nap. 

She was very fond of ice-cream, and we often 
treated her to it, letting her eat from our own 
dish. She was such a small body that it would 
not pay to have a whole dish of cream for her. 
In midsummer we were ill a few days, and bunny 
seemed to sympathize with us ; for she would 
not content herself in her nest, but would creep 
up stairs, and nestle down beside us at every 
opportunity. 



23. THE WOODCHUCK AND HIS SKIN. 

I saw, at Martial Miles's two young wood- 
chucks taken sixteen days ago, when they were, 
perhaps, a fortnight old. There were four in all, 
and they were dug out by the aid of a dog. 
The mother, to save herself, pushed out one 
after the other of her little ones to the dog, and 
one of them was killed by the dog. 

These two are now nearly one third grown. 



8 4 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



They have found a hole within the house into 
which they run, and whither they have carried 
shavings and made a nest. Thence they run out 
doors, and feed about the house, lurking behind 
barrels. They eat yarrow, clover, and catnip, 
and are fed with bread and milk. 

They do not 
drink the milk like 
a dog or a cat, but 
simply suck it, tak- 
ing the sharp edge 
of the shallow tin 
vessel in their 
mouths. They are 
said to spit like a 
cat. They also 
eat bread, sitting 
upright on their 
haunches, and 
holding it in their 
fore paws just like 
a squirrel. That is their common and natural 
mode of eating. 

They are as gray as the old one, or grayer. 
Mrs. Miles says they sleep on their heads — that 
is, curling their heads under them ; also that 
they can back as straight into their hole as if 
they went head foremost. I saw a full-grown one 
this afternoon, which stood so still and erect, its 




Woodchuck. 



THE WOODCHUCK AND HIS SKIN. 85 

paws hanging down, that it might be taken for 
a short and very stout stake. 

I passed a very little boy in the street to-day, 
who had on a home-made cap of a woodchuck's 
skin, which his father or older brother had cured, 
and his mother or older sister had fashioned into 
a nice warm cap. I was interested by the sight. 
It brought to mind much of the family history, 
the story of the capture of the animal, and the 
care the human parents took of their young 
these hard times. 

Johnny had been promised a cap many times, 
and now the work was completed. A perfect 
little poem, it might be called. The cap was 
large and round, big enough, you would say, for 
the boy's father; and it had some kind of cloth 
visor stitched to it. 

The top of the cap was evidently the back of 
the woodchuck, and it was as fresh and hand- 
some as if the woodchuck wore it himself. As 
if the boy had put his head into the body of 
the woodchuck, having cut off his tail and legs, 
and put a visor in place of the head. 

The little fellow wore it innocently enough, 
not knowing what he had on, perhaps ; and his 
eyes sparkled beneath it when I spoke of its 
warmth, even as the woodchuck's might have 
done. Such should be the history oi every piece 
of clothing that we wear. 



86 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



24. BRUIN AND HIS WAYS. 

In the same old poem which calls the fox Ren- 
ard, or the wise one, the bear gets his name 
Bruin, or the brown one. All children who visit 
the menagerie soon find out what bears will eat, 
and many things which they will do. Bruin 
likes sugar, peanuts, bread, cake, and nearly 
every good thing his visitors have to spare. 
Deftly and gracefully he will climb his dead tree, 
and, sitting on the flat top, he will catch apples 
in his mouth. 

The shuffling, cantering gait he has when he 
walks, is very droll. This is partly because his 
legs are limber for climbing, and partly because 
he sets his feet down flat, and does not walk 
on his toes as do dogs and cats. Looking at 
Bruin's teeth, so much like the teeth of the tiger, 
it might be thought that he, too, is a flesh eater. 
It is true that the dreadful grizzly bear of the 
Rocky Mountains and the polar bear of the 
North live much on animal food. 

But the real Bruin — the black or brown bear — 
feeds upon nuts, berries, and grain, though he 
does not object to an occasional taste of young 
pig. His teeth, too, if carefully observed, show 
that they are suited to his needs. The back 
ones are flatter than are the tiger's, and the 



BRUIN AND HIS WAYS. 87 

jaws work sideways as well as up and down ; 
so that Bruin can grind as well as cut. 

Bears delight in honey, and are willing to en- 
dure stinging if they can only rob the wild bee- 
tree or the humble bee's nest of their contents. 
They become familiar with the hum of bees, 
and the music is pleasant to their ears, for it 
guides them to the sweet treasures. 

On this account the brown bears of Scanda- 
navia are said to be puzzled by the telegraph 
lines which pass through their wild homes. The 
wind plays upon the wires and makes them hum, 
like the buzzing of bees. The bears hear the 
music, and then dig about the telegraph poles, 
hoping to find honey. Poor bears! All-Fools- 
Day comes to them quite often. 

It would be well to examine Bruin's paws. It 
is easy to see how powerful are his legs, and what 
ugly claws they are armed with. When he sits 
up, he can use these paws in striking and box- 
ing with terrible effect ; or he can hug a deer 
so tightly as to squeeze the life out of him. 

The brown bear is six feet long and three feet 
high, and often weighs four hundred pounds. 
The grizzly is larger, and may weigh a thousand 
pounds. Ilis claws arc sharper, and his strength 
is immense. lie can hold the buffalo in his hug, 
and with one blow he can remove the scalp of 
a man. When he is fat, it is almost impossible 



88 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 




Scandanavian Bears. 



to kill him with bullets. Should the hunter be 
closely pursued, he takes his flight along a hill- 
side if he can, for on such ground the bear 
makes slow progress. 

When winter approaches, Bruin and his com- 
panion, now very fat, go into their house in a 
hollow tree, and sleep until the opening of spring. 
Then they come out very poor, for their fat has 
been used by their systems to keep them alive. 
Their cubs, now the size of kittens, creep out 
into the strange world with a cry like that of a 
baby. Mrs. Bruin is very careful of them. 



BRUIN AND HIS WAYS. 89 



PART 2. 



The most ferocious of the bear family is cer- 
tainly the American grizzly, which is said to at- 
tack a man at sight. The beast is immensely 
strong, and a man is crushed instantly in its 
huge arms. The white, or rather cream-colored 
Polar bear is not so ferocious, though, like all 
the family, it fights courageously when brought 
to bay, or in defense of its cubs. 

The Esquimos have no hesitation in pursuing 
these bears, single handed, in their sledges. 
When they come up with the game, the dogs 
are unharnessed and rush to the attack. Sur- 
rounded and worried by the dogs, the hunter 
plunges his spear under the left shoulder of the 
beast as it turns to seize him. In spite of the 
skill and pluck of these men, however, they 
sometimes fall into the clutches of a wounded 
bear, and are severely handled. 

Stories are told, too, of bears creeping si- 
lently over the ice on their hair-padded feet, and 
surprising an Esquimo as he sits watching a 
seal hole, by giving him a tap on the shoulder, 
to remind him that his hour has come. The 
hunter then, it is said, has only one chance; to 
roll over and pretend to be dead ; and, while 
his enemy is quietly looking him over, to deal 
him a fatal blow. 



90 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

In the days of my youth, I read about this 
method of escaping from a bear. One had only 
to lie down and appear to be dead, when Bruin 
would come up and carefully smell the body to 
ascertain whether it was breathing. So long as 
one could hold one's breath, there was no dan- 
ger ; and the bear would pass on his way peace- 
fully. 

So deeply did every thing I read impress me, 
that I used to practice holding my breath, in 
preparation for the time when I should go bear- 
hunting, and should lie down quite peacefully 
before the most savage grizzly. However, the 
opportunity has never occurred ; and somehow 
my faith in this method has gone. 



25. HOW TO FRIGHTEN WILD ANIMALS. 

Many of the most dreadful wild beasts respect 
manliness and bravery. It is said that a lion 
will not attack a man who stands coolly in his 
place, and makes no effort to run. He looks 
at the man, as if he were measuring him, and, 
after a little, walks slowly away. 

Rocky mountain hunters dread to meet the 
grizzly bear for he attacks at once. But he can 
be scared. A geologist, in the early days of 
California, came suddenly upon a grizzly. What 



HOW TO FRIGHTEN WILD ANIMALS. 



9 1 



should he do ? A bullet would not hurt him, 
and would only make him more enraged. 

In an instant he thought of a noise he used 
to make when a boy. It was a loud whoop with 
the voice, broken by striking the hand rapidly 
over the mouth. This noise he set up with all 
his might, when Mr. Grizzly ran away like a 
frightened deer. In a similar manner a lady 
once drove a tiger from her path by suddenly 
opening her parasol before his face. 

" Mr. Gordon dimming, a distinguished Afri- 
can traveler, was once watching for game in a 
hole which he had dug near a pool. Having 
shot a gnu, he laid down his rifle without re- 
loading it, and fell asleep. 

" He had not slept long before his slumbers 
were disturbed by strange sounds, and he awoke 
with a sudden start, and uttered a loud shriek. 
He heard the rushing of light feet on every 
side, attended by the most unearthly noises ; 
and, on raising his head, he was struck with 
horror to see himself surrounded by wild dogs, 
animals between a wolf and a hyena. 

"To the right and the left, and within a few 
paces of him, stood two lines of these ferocious 
creatures, cocking their ears, and stretching their 
necks to have a look at him. Another troop of 
the wild dogs were fighting over the gnu that 
had been shot. When he saw them, the expec- 



9 2 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



tation of being presently torn in pieces made his 
blood curdle. 

" It was then the hunter thought of the power 
of the human voice, and of a bold manner in 
overawing brute animals. Springing to his feet, 
he stepped upon the little ledge surrounding the 
hole, when, drawing himself up to his full height, 
he waved his large blanket with both hands, and 
shouted in a loud and solemn voice. 

" This had the desired effect. The wild dogs 
shrank back some distance, barking like so many 
collies. Upon this, he began to reload his rifle, 
and before this had been done, the entire pack 
had retreated." 



26. BEAR-FACES AND BEAR-FEET. 

As the fox and the coyote are thought of 
along with the dog because they look and act 
like him, so there are some animals which are 
associated with the bear, because their looks and 
ways are like the bear's. Raccoons, weasels, 
ferrets, minks, martens, skunks, wolverines, badg- 
ers, and otters are all bear-like. Of these, some, 
like the coon, rest upon the flat foot, and are 
called coon-bears ; others step more on the toes, 
and are called weasel-bears. All are rogues and 
mischief-makers. 



BEAR-FACES AND BEAR-FEET. 



93 



We have only to get a good view of the rac- 
coon standing on the branch of a tree, to con- 
clude that the woodsman is right when he calls 
him the " tree-bear." Those flat feet, mischiev- 
ous eyes, and that sharp nose and droll expres- 
sion of countenance are all bear-like. See if 
they are not. Then look at the coon's bill of 
fare. He has placed upon it green corn, chick- 
ens, eggs, frogs, 
pumpkin seeds, fish, — ^ 

oysters, and turtles. 
Any of these things 
he will steal when 
he gets a chance. 
Because he washes 

i • • i r i • Raccoon. 

his animal food in 

water before eating it, the Germans call the 

coon the " washing-bear/' 

No wonder that the farmer is the coon's bitter 
enemy, or that he thinks highly of the coon-dog 
who knows how to track and tree the rascal, and 
how to catch him when the tree is chopped 
down. This night-thief is not satisfied, as is the 
muskrat, to carry away a single ear of corn. He 
must break down a great many stalks, and eat 
a little of a great many ears. The coon-hunt 
by moonlight is a rare delight to the country 
boys, and great fun for the plantation hands. 

A beautiful coon-bear has its home in Cali- 




94 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

fornia and Mexico. It is called the raccoon fox. 
About the size of a small cat, it lives in a moss- 
lined nest in a hollow tree. Thence it steals into 
the miner's hut, plunders his provisions, and 
finally becomes a delightful pet and a useful 
member of the family, clearing the house of all 
its mice. 

Whoever heard of a small bear only eight 
inches long? It is the weasel. It is said that 

you can not 
- ?^P^— catch a wea- 

sel asleep. 
And when 
you see what 
a slender, 
limber body 
it has, and 

Weasel. 1 »/vi 

how swiftly 
it glides along on its toes, you will surely con- 
clude that you can not catch it awake. It can 
enter any rat-hole, and it is a terror to rats. Its 
nest, in which are usually five young, is built 
among driftwood or leaves. There it sleeps, but 
before you can catch it, it will be awake and 
ready to defend itself, it is so spry. The mink 
and the ermine, larger than the weasel, are much 
like it, and are valued for their furs. They, 
with the badger, the wolverine or glutton, and 
the otter, are weasel-bears. 




BEAR-FACES AND BEAR-FEET. 95 

" No bear or puma," says Mr. Stephens, " ever 
defends its whelps with one half the courage 
shown by the little weasel, when one comes upon 
its nest. I have often been obliged to back has- 
tily off to avoid a bite on the leg, or a smart 
chance of being throttled. A person not ac- 
quainted with the weasel-grit would laugh at this. 
But really, I had rather take my chance in a fair 
fight with a bear than with three weasels. 

" Some years ago, while fishing in company 
with a boy friend along the bank of a large 
brook, we accidentally stumbled upon the burrows 
of several weasels. The first we saw of them, 
they were dodging and darting about us, mak- 
ing their low, scowling noise. There w r ere four 
of them. We began to strike at them with our 
fish-poles, to drive them off; but the more we 
struck, the more they would not go away. The 
conflict waxed hot, and they would actually jump 
up three or four feet against our jackets in their 
attempts to get at our throats. We were obliged 
to run, and the resolute little warriors chased us 
for some rods." 

The ferret is related to the weasel. It was 
originally from Africa, and its color was black 
and yellow. For a long time it has been a do- 
mestic animal, and is an albino, or white with 
pink eyes. It is not an affectionate pet, but is 
found useful in ridding a house of rats and mice. 



96 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



27. JOLLY OTTERS. 

The otter is a bear-like animal, and is pecul- 
iar on account of its webbed toes. It is about 
three feet long, lives much in the water, and 
catches fish. There are sea otters, and otters 
that live by rivers and fresh water streams. In 




Otters Coasting-. 



China otters are tamed, and made to catch fish 
and bring them to their masters. Audubon had 
several tame otters which were as gentle as pup- 
pies, and would romp with him in his study. 

The sea otter is very tender of its young one. 
She clasps it in her fore paws and turns her back 
when danger approaches. She sleeps on her 
back in the water, with her pup in her arms; 



HOOFED FEET. 97 

and when she wakes she will play with the young 
thing for hours together. Otters are full of fun. 
Old hunters have watched the sea otter lying on 
its back in the water, and tossing and catching 
sea-weed with its paws. 

The American otter invented coasting long 
before the boys discovered its charms. Audubon, 
the great naturalist, once saw a pair of otters 
enjoying this sport on a steep muddy bank near 
the Ohio River. Twenty-two slides down the 
bank, as swift as an arrow from a bow, were 
made, before they were interrupted. 

Their winter sport is thus described: "In win- 
ter the highest ridge of snow is selected. To 
the top of this hill the otters scramble, where, 
lying on the belly with their fore feet bent back- 
wards, they give themselves a push with their 
hind legs, and swiftly glide head foremost down 
the hill, sometimes for the distance of twenty 
yards. This sport they continue, with the keen- 
est enjoyment." 



28. HOOFED FEET. 



There are some animals whose toes are pro- 
tected by a hard, horny covering called a hoof. 
This hoof is, in form, very different from the claw 
of the dog, the cat, or the squirrel. The ani- 



V. \. 



98 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

mal that has hoofs, as the horse, the pig, and the 
cow have, never uses the foot for catching its 
food, and seldom for holding it. The pig with 
his foot holds down the ear of corn he is eating, 
and the wild horse paws away the snow to reach 
the grass. But the hoofed animals, as a rule, 
use their feet simply for walking, for running, 
and for kicking. 

Besides the hoofed animals best known to us, 
there is a host of others that run wild in the 
forest or inhabit foreign countries, which are 
horse-like, pig-like, or cow-like. In a few feat- 
ures, which are quite apparent, we can see that 
the rhinoceros resembles the horse ; the hippo- 
potamus is piggish ; and the deer and giraffe are 
more cow-like. The hard covering of the hoof is 
of great service to all of them, as are the soles 
of our shoes to us. 

Some of them, like the elephant and the rhi- 
noceros, have the great weight of their bodies to 
carry, while others must run swiftly, or clamber 
over rocky and steep places. The hard cover 
protects their toes against bruises, and keeps 
them from slipping, from wearing out, and from 
getting sore. 

How wisely and wonderfully is the horse fitted 
to our uses ! Every one must admire an animal 
so finely made as was the famous Ten Broeck; 
but the horse of common use is quite as won- 



HOOFED FEET. 



99 



derful. There is old Nero, the family horse of 
the Perrys^ hitched to the road-wagon and stand- 
ing at the gate. Good-natured, willing, patient 
old fellow ! He will draw his load of feed from 
the mill, then trot away with his mistress in the 




Ten Broeck. 



buggy, gallop with Joel on his back, or let all 
the children together, — Joel, Dora, and Ruth, — 
ride him up and down the lane. 

Thus Nero is willing to be busy all the day. 
At night he will do his eating, and will sleep 
even while standing on his feet. Could any one 
contrive a machine and put life into it, and make 
it work any thing like Nero? His bones are 
hard and small. His limbs are light and strong. 



IOO FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

His shoulder is shaped and sloped for the collar. 
His back is made for the saddle and for the 
burden. 

Nero's lips are fitted for picking, and his forty 
teeth are made for nipping and grinding his 
food. Between his nippers and grinders is a 
gap which is just the place for the bit to rest in. 
His eye is bright and can see in the dark almost 
as well as the cat's eye. His coat is smooth and 
his skin is thick. How many things he can do ! 
He can carry, he can pull, he can walk, he can 
trot, he can gallop, he can run. He will go 
hungry or thirsty, endure heat or cold, without 
complaining. Thoughtless, even cruel, is the 
hand that strikes Nero a needless blow ! 

The wonderful thing about the horse is his 
hoof. It surrounds his single toe with a high, 

hard wall. This wall 
holds tight the nails 
that fasfen the shoe. 
On the flat bottom 
within the wall is the 
frog which is shaped 
Horse's Hoof. lik e the letter V. 

Between the frog and the wall, or the inside 
edge of the shoe, is the sole. The wall, the sole, 
and the frog together support the weight of the 
horse. The sole is elastic and the frog is 
springy ; and unless the blacksmith cuts it away, 




HOOFED FEET. 



the frog gives a jump to the foot when it strikes 
the ground. 

What if the horse had five toes on each foot 
as had his greatest grandfather ever so far back 
in the past? What could Nero do with twenty 
shoes on his four feet ! It is a kind Providence 
that has finally brought our horse to have but 
one toe on each foot ; and has made that toe so 
hard and tough that it will hold fast the iron 
shoe, and strike the country road or the city 
pavement without breaking or getting sore. 

The horse was not tamed so early in the his- 
tory of man as was the dog ; and after the horse 
came to be used, he was kept chiefly for kings 
and for war. In the time of Abraham, asses 
are mentioned as among the possessions of Pha- 
raoh, but horses are not spoken of. Probably 
the king of Egypt had no horses. Abraham 
rode upon an ass, and it will be remembered 
that Jesus, when he made his triumphal entry 
into Jerusalem, rode upon a young ass. 

The horse in battle has always been noble and 
brave. The noise and uproar which at first 
frightened him become his delight. Here is a 
word-picture from the P>ible of the horse in war: 

Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou 
clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make 
him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory <>l his 
nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and 



102 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



rejoiceth in his strength ; he goeth on to meet 
armed men. 

He mocketh at fear and is not affrighted ; 
neither turneth he back from the sword. The 
quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear 
and the shield. And he smelleth the battle afar 
off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting. 



29. HORSES GREAT, SMALL, AND SWIFT. 

Joel Perry, like most boys, was deeply inter- 
ested in horses. He was particularly anxious to 
know something of the swift horses he had heard 
so much about. He thought that, as the nice 
dogs had descended from animals like wolves, 
the fine horses too must have come from wild 
parents. Joel's questions must be attended to. 

There are no really wild horses now. More 
than three hundred years ago, the Spaniards 
came to South America and to Mexico to con- 
quer the natives ; and they brought with them 
large, handsome horses. Some of these animals, 
very naturally, got loose and ran away. From 
those truants have come the great herds of 
South America, and the little wide-awake mus- 
tangs that run wild in the far west. 

Being obliged to take care of themselves, the 
offspring of those Spanish horses gradually lost 



HORSES GREAT, SMALL, AND SWIFT. 



IO3 



the size and beauty which their tame ancestors 
had. They are now caught with a lasso, and, 
when tamed, are very hardy workers. Where 
and when the first really w r ild horse was tamed, 
we shall never know. 

But where are the best horses to be found? 




French Draught Horse. 



Just where men have, for the longest time, taken 
the best care of their horses. The Arabian 
horse has, for a long, long time, been a member 
of the Arab's household, and lives in the tent 
with the Arab's family. The father and the chil- 
dren lie on the iloor with him, and pillow their 



104 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



heads on his neck. The colt is fed on camel's 
milk, and is caressed like a kitten. The Arab 
is unwilling to sell or to part with his horse. 

The Arabian horse shows something for the 
care bestowed upon him. He is one of the most 
complete horses. He is used only for the saddle. 
His back is short; his ears are small; his legs 

are slender and hard. He 
walks and gallops, or runs, 
but seldom trots. He is 
strongly attached to his 
master, and will carry him 
fifty miles without stopping 
to rest, and he will go with- 
out water two days at a 
time. When the master 
lies down to sleep on the 
desert sand, his mare watches over him. 

Nearly two hundred years ago the Arabian 
horse was brought to England. Then arose the 
horse family called Thorough-breds, from which 
have been produced the swiftest horses in the 
world. Other people, as well as the Arabs, be- 
gan to take great pains with their horses, and 
many other fine families appeared, among them 
the French Percheron and the Scotch Clydesdale. 
These are the elephants among horses. 

By the side of these giants, the little Shetland 
pony, with shaggy mane and bushy tail looks 




Shetland Pony. 



HORSES GREAT, SMALL, AND SWIFT. 105 

scarcely larger than a sheep. In his cold, bar- 
ren, rocky home — the Shetland Islands — he picks 
the moss and the lichen like a sheep. The Per- 
cheron sometimes weighs two thousand pounds, 
and is seventeen hands high. The Sheltie, as 
he is called, is thought to be heavy if he weighs 
four hundred pounds ; and he is high if he ex- 
ceeds nine hands, or three feet. 

An Englishman with his two-wheeled chaise 
was once visiting a friend, who presented him 
with a Shetland pony both beautiful and docile. 
The little dwarf was but seven hands, or twenty- 
eight inches high. The question arose how he 
should be taken away. He was finally put into 
the body of the carriage and covered with a 
shawl. A few bread crumbs were fed him from 
time to time, and he reached his new home 
without difficulty. 

PART 2. 

Some horses, like some men, have become 
famous, and we must remember their names. 
Alexander the Great had a horse whose name 
was Bucephalus. Without this horse, it is said, 
Alexander could never have conquered the world. 
Bucephalus would allow no other than his mas- 
ter to handle or to ride him; but for Alexander 
he would even drop on his knees to be mounted. 

Other horses have earned great names by 



106 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

their speed. Nearly two hundred years ago, 
Flying Childers was the name of the swiftest 
horse then known. He lived in England until 
he was twenty-six years old. Next after him the 
swiftest runner was Eclipse, who died at the age 
of twenty-five. In this country, sixty years ago, 




Maud S. 



the American Eclipse was the horse of fleetest 
foot. He, too, reached the age of twenty-five. 
Each of these horses could run a mile in less 
than two minutes, or go as fast as a mail-train 
of cars. 

Of more recent thorough-bred horses Ten 
Broeck, whose photographic likeness is given on 



HORSES GREAT, SMALL, AND SWIFT. I07 

page 99, is a fine example. His color was bright 
bay. When you look at him you see all that is 
best in the horse of the Arab and the famous 
runners of former days. His single mile was 
made in one minute thirty-nine and three quar- 
ter seconds. He died in 1887 at ^le a g e °f 
fifteen. 

America has produced the famous trotters. 
When a horse goes much faster than a walk, it 
is natural for him to break into a gallop or a 
running gait. Rapid trotting, when it came, was 
something new. It began in 18 18 with Boston 
Blue, a horse who created great excitement by 
trotting a mile in three minutes. 

In 1859, Flora Temple trotted a mile in two 
minutes nineteen and three quarter seconds. 
She was not a handsome animal, and when ad- 
vanced in years she looked like a very common 
horse. Maud S. is a more comely appearing 
animal than was Flora Temple, and she has 
earned an equal fame. In 1885 she trotted her 
mile in two minutes eight and three quarter sec- 
onds. 

"But, mamma," asked Joel Perry, "what good 
do these swift horses do, anyhow, except to make 
sport for idle men?" 

"In former times,' 1 explained Mrs. Perry, " fast 
running" horses were of great use. As there 
were no railroads they were employed to carry 



io 8 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

mail-matter ; and as there were no telegraphs, 
they were ridden, at the top of their speed, to 
carry important messages. In these days, it is 
true, they are not needed for such purposes ; 
but the training of a few horses to do their best 
helps people to make all horses better — better 
for the plough, the cart, and the carriage. By 
these finely bred specimens, too, we are shown 
how care, kindness, and training will improve 
our four-footed servants." 



30. WISE HORSES. 



In the year 1881 the publication called Nat- 
ure printed the following story about a Shet- 
land pony, the truth of which story was well 
proved : 

" A year or two ago Mr. William Sinclair, 
school-teacher at Holm, imported one of these 
little animals from Shetland on which to ride to 
and from school. Up to that time the animal 
had been unshod ; but some time afterwards Mr. 
Sinclair had it shot by Mr. Pratt, the parish 
blacksmith. 

"The other day Mr. Pratt, whose smithy is a 
loner distance from Mr. Sinclair's house, saw the 
pony, without halter or any thing upon it, walk- 
ing up to where he was working. Thinking the 



WISE HORSES. 



IO9 



animal had strayed from home, he drove it off, 
throwing stones after the beast to make it run 
homewards. This had the desired effect for a 
short time ; but Mr. Pratt had only got fairly at 
work once more in the shop when the pony's 
head again made its appearance at the door. 




Flora Temple. 



Going a second time outside to drive the pony 
away, Mr. Pratt, with a blacksmith's instinct, 
took a look at the pony's feet, when he observed 
that one of its shoes had been lost. 

"Having made a shoe, he put it on, and then 
waited to see what the animal would do. For 
a moment it looked at the blacksmith as il ask- 



HO FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

ing whether he was done, then pawed once or 
twice as if to see whether the newly-shod foot 
was comfortable, and finally gave a cheerful 
neigh, erected his head, and started home at a 
brisk trot. 

11 The owner, also, was surprised to find his ani- 
mal at home the same evening, completely shod ; 
and it was only by calling at the smith-shop some 
days afterwards, that he learned the full extent 
of his pony's sagacity." 

A similar and recent instance of wit in an 
American horse is told by a college professor 
in Maine : 

" A few years ago, Mr. Eli Rigby, living at Still- 
water, a small village a mile from here, turned 
his span of farm-horses out loose on the road. 
Without his knowledge one of them went to the 
blacksmith shop of Mr. John Gould, who had 
been accustomed to shoe the span. Finding the 
door of the shop open, the horse entered and 
lifted up his foot in such a manner as to attract 
attention. 

''The blacksmith supposing the owner to be 
near by, examined the foot, and found the shoe 
broken in such a way as to hurt the horse when 
he walked. He therefore put on a new shoe, 
after which the horse went off home of his own 
accord. 

"Later in the day the blacksmith saw Rigby, 



HORSE-LIKE ANIMALS. 



Ill 



and asked him if he got his horse all right. This 
question led to explanation, when it appeared 
that Rigby not only did not know that the horse 
had been in the shop, but he did not know there 
had been trouble with his shoe. Both Gould 
and Rigby are thoroughly trustworthy men/' 



31. HORSE-LIKE ANIMALS. 

The cousins of the horse may all be known 
by the foot with the single toe and the hard 
hoof. They include 
the ass, the small ass 
or donkey, the burro, 
the mule, the gayly 
striped zebra of Africa, 
and the wild asses of 
Africa and Asia. Their 
lips, teeth, legs, feet, » &" 

and skin are all horse- 
like. They are unlike 
the horse in their 
strangely large ears, and in the music of their 
voices, which sound like the rasping of a saw. 

The tail of the ass is without long hair, ex- 
cept at the end. There are on the inside of the 
horse's hind legs queer looking buttons, or warts. 




Wild Ass. 



112 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 






These the ass does not have. The wild ass has, 
along his back and across his shoulders, a dark 
stripe. These peculiar marks, together with his 
harsh bray, belong also to the tame ass. It is 
pretty certain, therefore, that the common animal 
is descended from the wild ass of Africa. 

The wild asses, the zebras, and the partly 
striped quaggas, are among the most beautiful 
animals that roam through the wilds of the African 

continent. They 
are usually tall, 
are delicate and 
graceful in form, 
and so fleet that 
even a greyhound 
finds it very hard 
to keep up with 
them. 

But the little 
donkeys ; the rough, unsightly, yet patient little 
donkeys ; the stupid little donkeys of the stories ; 
is it possible that they have come from those gay 
creatures of Africa ? If so, they must have be- 
come what they are because the ass has, for 
hundreds of years, been despised and abused. 

" At the present time the ass is common in 
France, Spain, Italy, and Greece. It is astonish- 
ing to see the enormous burdens of fruits and 
vegetables which this creature carries to market. 




HORSE-LIKE ANIMALS. 



n 3 



The ass or donkey — usually a very small beast — 
is the poor man's cart, coach, wheelbarrow, 
chaise, and buggy. It takes the family to church, 
the wife and daughters to the wedding, the baby 
to the christening, the cabbages, carrots, beets, 
turnips, and potatoes, to market. 

"The ass does all this and keeps himself; for 
he needs little care, and will feed on dry leaves, 
thistles, briers, chaff, and straw. It is in Mex- 
ico that the burros, 
as they are called, 
form a part of the f 
household. They -f, 
bring the wood 
and the water. 
They carry the 
produce to market. 

" Look at the 
pretty burro, of 

shaggy feet and dainty coat, as he is reared in 
the very house of the Mexican laborer ! As 
soon as his little frame can bear a few pounds, 
the pack is on his back. 

"Nothing is more amusing than to see his 
donkeyship with his head just inside a Mexican 
shanty, and a half dozen dark-skinned urchins 
hanging on his ears, mounting him before and 
behind, tumbling off one side, crawling under 
his belly, between his legs, and scrambling up 

F. A. -8. 




Quagga. 



ii4 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



the other side. He usually stands at the door 
to secure the odds and ends of the family meal. 
" When nothing more is to be obtained at the 
house, he walks off quietly to the common to 
finish his meal by browsing; and he generally 
manages to be out of the way when wanted. 
" Hunting up the burros forms no small part 

of the duty of Mexican 
youth. Burros are 
the most accomplished 
thieves. They make 
frequent excursions in- 
to the neighborhood, 
and take possession 
of every thing in the 
shape of food in the 
house or camp that is 
left unguarded. 
" The most useful and remarkable qualities of 
these animals are their great strength and en- 
durance. I have known a train of donkeys to 
carry burdens of three hundred-weight each, 
more than three quarters of their own weight, 
over a desert ninety miles in extent, without 
water, the thermometer ranging one hundred de- 
grees during the day, and the trip occupying 
three days. They have no means of defence ex- 
cept their heels. They seldom escape by their 
speed unless they are frightened/' 




Burro. 



FACTS ABOUT ELEPHANTS. 115 



32. FACTS ABOUT ELEPHANTS. 

Two great families of elephants live in the 
Old World. They are the African and the 
Asiatic. Both have trunks, thick, loose skins, 
small eyes that can not see far, legs that look 
like posts, and six huge grinding teeth on each 
jaw. Of the African elephants, both the male 
and the female have tusks. Of the Asiatic, the 
male alone has tusks. The elephants of Ceylon 
have no tusks. 

The African elephant is the tallest, being often 
eleven feet high. He is of dark color, has a 
round forehead, and immense ears cover his 
shoulders. He shows four hoofed toes on his 
front foot and three similar toes on his hind foot. 
The Asiatic elephant reaches ten feet in height, 
has a flat forehead, small ears, and shows four 
hoofed toes on each foot. The African is now 
seldom known except as a wild beast hunted for 
its tusks. The Asiatic is often domesticated, 
and is usually docile, kind, and intelligent. 

The elephant is the largest land animal. His 
weight reaches seven thousand or eight thousand 
pounds. He continues to grow until he is thirty 
years old. He often lives until he is upwards 
of a hundred. 

The elephant's tusks are simply upper teeth 



Il6 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

grown absurdly long and large. One pair of 
tusks was found which were nine feet long. 
Another single tusk, found by an African hunter, 
weighed a hundred and seventy-three pounds. 
Elephants' tusks, though they possess great 
strength, are poor weapons of defense. Yet, 
with them, an elephant has hurled a tiger a dis- 
tance of thirty feet. How readily the Asiatic 
elephant may be taught, is learned from Mr. 
Hornaday, who says : 

" A horse which will promptly back at the 
word of command, or a dog that will back or 
stand on its hind legs when told to do so, is 
considered quite accomplished. But in India, 
any well-trained elephant, at a word or touch 
from his driver who sits astride of his neck, will 
kneel, speak, and salute with his trunk ; stop, 
back, lie down, pull down a branch in the way, 
gather fodder and hand it up to his attendant, 
turn or lift a log, or drag it by taking its drag- 
rope between his teeth." 

The trunk is the elephant's wonderful organ. 
It contains forty thousand muscles, and serves 
the purposes of nose, lip, arm, hand, and fingers. 
By it the elephant breathes when he is under 
water, smells, tastes, touches, and seizes. With 
it he can pick up a marble, or twist a tree off 
by its roots. It brings food and water to his 
mouth, throws water over his body, and makes 



FACTS ABOUT ELEPHANTS. 117 

a shrill noise like a trumpet. The elephant is 
careful of his trunk. When he encounters the 
tiger he raises his trunk aloft and fights with 
his tusks. 

part 2. 

It is needless to say that the elephant is tre- 
mendously strong. He can carry as much weight 
as sixteen oxen can support. He feeds chiefly 
on the branches and roots of soft-wood trees, 
and on grass and fruits. With his tusks the 
African elephant has uprooted trees four feet in 
circumference and thirty feet high. In South 
Africa, elephants sometimes eat a fruit which 
makes them tipsy, when they stagger, perform 
foolish acts, scream loudly, and get into fierce 
fights. In this condition they remind one of cer- 
tain other animals with shorter noses and fewer 
legs, who sometimes act in the same way. 

Elephants live in families of from twenty-five 
to a hundred members. The family is guided 
by a single aged leader whom all follow and 
defend. If, for any reason, a member leaves his 
family, he is never permitted to join it again, 
but is hated, persecuted, and sometimes killed 
by his former friends. 

Elephants seldom forget an injury or an in- 
sult. An old story, told for several generations, 
relate > that an elephant put his proboscis in at 



Il8 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

the window of a tailor, hoping to receive a pleas- 
ant morsel of food. Instead of this, the tailor 
pricked the sensitive trunk with his needle. The 
elephant walked away to a muddy pool, filled 
his trunk, and, returning to the tailor, showered 
him with dirty water. Elephants are afraid of 
flies, and may be frightened by a mouse. Some- 
times they become greatly angered, when they 
lay aside fear and are very dangerous. 

Single wild elephants are often caught in cov- 
ered pits. When a herd is to be captured, a 
large yard, or corral is inclosed by the trunks 
and branches of trees, one side alone being left 
open. Then hundreds, or even thousands of 
men, called beaters, surround the herd, beat 
drums, carry torches, and so torment and frighten 
the poor creatures that they rush into the corral 
and are confined. Tame elephants are then in- 
troduced among them, and while they are get- 
ting acquainted, ropes are slipped around the 
legs of the wild ones, and they are securely fast- 
ened to trees. In a few months the prisoners 
are subdued and tamed. 

It will not be many years before these giant 
animals will all have disappeared, and children 
will read of them as seen only by their grand- 
fathers and grandmothers. A whole elephant 
must be destroyed for the ivory in his tusks. 
In England alone, the ivory of forty thousand 



THE CHILDREN'S GIANT FRIEND. 119 

elephants is used every year. Other countries 
use more than this ; so that a hundred thousand 
elephants are annually killed for the pair of teeth 
that belongs to each. Before long, therefore, 
there will be no more elephants, no more ivory, 
and no more ivory-handled pocket knives. 



33. THE CHILDREN S GIANT FRIEND. 

"It was in December, 185 1," says Mr. 
Matthew Scott, in Harper s Young People, "that 
my name was entered on the books of the Royal 
Zoological Society's Garden, at Regent's Park, 
in London. I was then seventeen years of age, 
and my great desire to be constantly among the 
animals was finally gratified. 

11 I well remember when it was announced, 
eighteen years ago, that an African elephant, with 
immense ears like folding parlor doors, would 
soon arrive, and the managers decided to put 
me in charge of him. There was great excite- 
ment when the boat carrying him arrived from 
Paris, and it seemed as if all the boys and girls 
in London turned out to see him. The little 
elephant was a curiosity on account of his pe- 
culiar shape and big ears, and the members of 
several learned societies came to examine him. 



120 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 




The name I gave him, Jumbo, had no particular 
meaning; in fact I do not think I had ever be- 
fore heard it. 

" From the natives where he was captured it 
was learned that Jumbo was five years old, and 
I took great delight in telling visitors that he 



THE CHILDREN'S GIANT FRIEND. 121 

would grow to be the biggest elephant in the 
world. He was then in a bad state of health. 

''Jumbo and I were fast friends the first time 
we met, and he would be governed by none of 
the other keepers. He was like a great, good- 
natured boy, and he took a special fancy to chil- 
dren and ladies, and was never so happy as when 
he could carry a back-load of little ones around 
the Park. His passengers included children of 
royalty and nobility, and as he grew rapidly, a 
larger saddle was needed every few months. 

4 'One day, as Jumbo was passing through a 
crowd, he suddenly stopped, and would not move 
an inch when I commanded him to proceed. 
From my seat in the saddle I observed that a 
lady below was much agitated as she came run- 
ning toward Jumbo. Leaning over the side of 
the saddle, I saw that a child of two or three 
years had fallen in our pathway, and was lying 
between Jumbo's fore feet. The beast would 
not stir until he had taken up the infant ten- 
derly in his trunk and passed it over to the 
mother. 

"Mr. Barnum, ten years ago, saw Jumbo at 
the Gardens and tried to purchase him. When 
he offered fifty thousand dollars for him, I was 
afraid the directors would let him go and I should 
lose my best friend. But they assured me that 
they would never let the animal go to America 



122 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

for any price. Six years ago, however, Jumbo 
had turns of fretfulness which alarmed the di- 
rectors. I told them that elephants were social 
animals, and that what ailed Jumbo was the want 
of society. 

"As Mr. Barnum had a score or more of 
elephants in his great American show, the su- 
perintendent of the zoological gardens advised 
the sale of Jumbo at a greatly reduced price. 
Mr. Barnum offered ten thousand dollars, and the 
directors accepted the offer. It was one of the 
happiest days of my life when I found that I was 
to accompany my old friend across the water. 

PART 2. 

" The journey is familiar to every boy and 
girl in the land. Even those who have not seen 
Jumbo on his travels through the country have 
read how he was boxed up and hoisted aboard 
the steamer Assyrian Monarch, and how, on his 
arrival in New York in April, 1882, every paper 
in the land had columns of interesting news about 
the wonderful beast that had now grown to be 
the largest known animal in the world. 

"Jumbo was unlike any other elephant in Mr. 
Barnum's herd. It would never do to punish 
him or to force him to obey. He minded me 
because he loved me. Whenever I could make 



THE CHILDREN'S GIANT FRIEND. 123 

my wishes known to him he always obeyed. 
Like a child he would sometimes be peevish and 
sullen, but at such times he would solicit me to 
pet him, and if I remained near, he would soon 
get over his ill feeling. 

" He was mischievous, too; and as my bed was 
near him, he would oftentimes wait until I had 
fallen asleep, and then carefully take off my bed- 
clothes without awakening me. If it was cold 
weather, I would find the quilts crowded into the 
ventilator overhead. I recollect finding my coat 
and vest carefully tucked into the grating of the 
car, out of my reach. I looked for them for half 
an hour, while Jumbo swung his trunk like an 
enormous pendulum, as he always did when ex- 
pressing delight. Finally, he directed my atten- 
tion to the grating, and at my request gave them 
back. 

"Many times Jumbo has picked me up and 
placed me out of danger of various kinds, and in 
several instances he saved my life. When the 
stampede of elephants took place last year, he 
caught me in his trunk and held me prisoner 
between his fore feet until the general alarm had 
subsided. 

"I do not like to review the details of Jum- 
bo's sudden death. He showed his affection for 
me to the last moment, and it seems he realized 
the danger to which he was exposed. lie first 



124 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



took care, as he saw the fatal train coming, that 
I should be saved, and quickly put me out 
of harm's way. Then he quickly rolled Tom 
Thumb, the baby elephant, from the track, and 
in so doing lost so much time that the engine 
was upon him before he could move away. He 
was a king, and he faced death like a king. The 
locomotive struck him on the head, fracturing 
his skull." 



34. THE ELEPHANT AND THE CHILD. 

The arching trees above a path 

Had formed a pleasant shade, 

And here, to screen him while he slept, 

An infant boy was laid. 

His mother near him gathered fruit, 
But soon with fear she cried ; 
For, slowly moving down the path, 
An elephant she spied. 

The sticks he crushed beneath his feet 
Had waked the sleeping child, 
Who pushed aside the waving curls, 
And looked at him, and smiled. 

The mother could not reach the spot — 
With fear she held her breath — 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF ELEPHANTS. 1 25 

And there in agony she stood 
To see him crushed to death. 

The heavy foot the monster held 
A while above the boy, 
Who laughed to see it moving there, 
And clapped his hands with joy. 

The mother saw it reach the ground 
Beyond her infant son, 
And watched till every foot was safe 
Across the little one. 

She caught the infant from the ground, 
For there unharmed he lay, 
And could have thanked the noble beast, 
Who slowly w r alked away. 



35. ANCIENT HISTORY OF ELEPHANTS. 

Pliny was a Roman writer who was born in 
the year 23, A. D. He wrote in the Latin lan- 
guage, and a great many books were produced 
by his pen. On the subject of animals he pub- 
lished more than any other author of his time. 
Without doubt he believed his statements to be 
thoroughly true. 

In reading some of them, however, which are 
given in our own plain language, it must be re- 



126 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

membered that people two thousand years ago 
were not careful observers, and strange fancies 
were nearly always mixed with facts. It is doubt- 
ful whether elephants did all the droll things 
Pliny recorded about them. The following are 
some of the things he wrote of them. 

Elephants always move in herds. The oldest 
takes the lead, and the next in age brings up 
the rear. When they are crossing a river, they 
first send over the smallest for fear that the 
larger ones would wear the bottom too deep for 
the smaller ones. The first harnessed elephants 
that were seen at Rome were in the triumph of 
Pompey the Great over Africa, when they drew 
his chariot. In an exhibition of gladiators the 
elephants performed an awkward dance. It was 
a common thing to see them throw arrows with 
such force that the wind was unable to turn them 
from their course. 

They imitated among themselves the combats 
of the gladiators, and went through the steps 
of the dance. After this they walked upon the 
tight rope — a statement confirmed by four other 
writers besides Pliny. Four of them would carry 
a litter on which a fifth one lay, who pretended 
to be ill. They afterwards took their places at 
table, reclining upon couches which were filled 
with people. 

It is a most surprising thing that the ele- 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF ELEPHANTS. I 27 

phant is able not only to walk up the tight rope 
backwards, but to come down upon it, head fore- 
most. Mutianus, who was one of the chief mag- 
istrates or consuls, as they were called, states 
that one of these animals learned to trace Greek 
letters and put together words. 

When their teeth are white they are known 
to be young. They take the greatest care of 
their tusks, and pay especial attention to the 
point of one of them that it may be sharp for 
combat ; the other they use for various purposes, 
such as digging up roots. 

When an elephant meets a man in the des- 
ert who is merely wandering about, he is said 
to show himself merciful and kind, and even 
points out the way for the man. But if the very 
same animal discovers the tracks of a man be- 
fore he meets the man himself, he is suspicious, 
and trembles in every limb ; stops short and 
scents the wind ; looks around him and snorts 
with rage. So strong is the odor of the human 
footstep, though the foot itself is covered. 

Mention is made of a combat between a Ro- 
man and an elephant when Hannibal compelled 
the Roman prisoners to fight against one another. 
One of the prisoners survived all the others, and 
he was placed before an elephant and promised 
his life if he would slay the animal. 

The man advanced alone into the great arena 



128 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

or space where the gladiators fought, and over- 
came the elephant, much to the regret of Han- 
nibal and his people. The promise was not 
kept. Hannibal thinking that the news of this 
victory might cause the elephants to be despised, 
sent horsemen to kill the brave prisoner on his 
way home. 

The elephant is said to show a kind disposi- 
tion toward animals that are weaker than itself. 
When it finds itself in a flock of sheep, it will 
carefully remove with its trunk those that are 
in the way that it may not trample on or injure 
any of them. 

The cave-dwellers who inhabit the borders of 
Ethiopia live entirely on the flesh of elephants. 
To capture them, they climb the trees which stand 
near the paths through which these animals are 
accustomed to pass. Here they watch for the 
last one of the train. Leaping down upon its 
haunches, a man seizes its tail with his left hand 
and fixes his feet firmly upon its thigh. Hang- 
ing down in this manner, the man with his right 
hand cuts the hamstrings of the animal on one 
side. Then he cuts the tendons of the other 
ham, and makes his escape. 

Elephants of furious temper are tamed by 
hunger and blows, while other elephants are 
placed near them to keep them quiet. When 
tamed, they are employed in war, and carry into 



THE RHINOCEROS. 129 

the ranks of the enemy towers filled with armed 
men. They tread under foot whole companies, 
and crush the men in their armor. The very 
least sound, however, of a grunting pig terrifies 
them. When wounded or frightened, as they 
might be by the pig, they turn about and become 
no less destructive to their own side. 



36. THE RHINOCEROS. 



In the London Zoological Gardens, where you 
may see all sorts of animals, birds, and reptiles, 
except a few that you may read of in the Arabian 
Nights, I've seen an elephant wind his trunk 
around the neck of a rhinoceros ; not to strangle 
him, but in play, — to hug him, I suppose. 

When tamed together, the two animals are 
very good friends, though they are enemies in 
their native wilds. There the rhinoceros always 
gives a grunt and runs away when he hears the 
elephant coming. And well he may ; for a rhi- 
noceros is only about four feet high, while the 
elephant is eight or ten feet high, and large in 
proportion. Yet I assure you the largest and 
strongest of animals would find the horn of the 
stout rhinoceros a terrible weapon. 

An English hunter, mounted on a horse, once 
fired into a rhinoceros within a few yards of 



F. A -0 



i3° 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



him. He did not expect to kill him at one shot, 
for the rhinoceros has such a tough skin that 
only a peculiar kind of very hard bullet will go 
through it. He expected the beast would run 
away, for he is rather timid. Then he thought 
he would ride along side of him and put more 
bullets in him, until he should fall dead. 




Asiatic Elephant and Rhinoceros. 



But this rhinoceros showed fight. He lowered 
his head and rushed forward, throwing up his 
nose and striking the horse such a blow that the 
horn passed clear through the poor beast's body 
and hit the hunter's leg on the other side. The 
hunter, afterwards mounting another horse, killed 
the rhinoceros. 



THE RHINOCEROS. 131 

The horn of the rhinoceros is sometimes three 
or four feet long. It is a very old animal which 
has a horn so long as that. The horn curves 
backward to a point, and is very strong. Some 
kinds of rhinoceros have two horns, one behind 
the other. We call the thing a horn, and yet 
it is not one, strictly speaking. It does not grow 
out of the skull, but out of the hide. It has 
more the nature of hair than of bone, with rough 
sides, but ending in a smooth point. 

The skin of the rhinoceros lies upon him in 
heavy folds, so thick and hard and shell-like that 
they make him look something like a gigantic 
tortoise. The natives of Asiatic countries, where 
the rhinoceros is found, use his tough hide to 
make shields of. It is a protection against even 
the claws of the tiger or the sword of a man, 
but not against the animal's worst enemy. 

This enemy is an insect that works under the 
folds of the skin, and sometimes torments him 
almost to death. When he can endure its bites 
no longer, he goes and buries himself in the mud, 
leaving only his nose sticking out. 

Sometimes he stays until the mud becomes 
so hardened about him that he can scarcely get 
out. The natives take advantage of him then, 
and kill him while he is struggling to free him- 
self. He is often saved from them as he is from 
the insects, by his best friend. 



I32 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

This friend is a little bird called the rhinoc- 
eros bird. It nearly always goes with the ani- 
mal, riding on his back, and perching upon him 
when he sleeps at night. It feeds upon the in- 
sect that torments him. When he is asleep 
and danger is coming, this faithful little friend 
screams in his ear to wake him. 

Sometimes, when the rhinoceros has been 
shot, the bird has been seen to keep watch over 
him and to scream in his ear at sight of the 
hunter returning. There is something very cu- 
rious and touching in this friendship existing be- 
tween the big beast and the little bird. 



37. TIGS TAME AND WILD. 

One evening, toward the close of May, Mrs. 
Perry was seated with her children, when she 
announced that she would read to them about 
pigs. 

"Oh, don't read about pigs, Mamma," said 
Joel. " I hate pigs. They're dreadful dirty 
things." 

"How do you know?" asked Mrs. Perry. 
"You have never seen much of pigs." 

"I've seen all I want to," said Joel, earnestly. 
" Did'nt Dora and I go to Oakville last summer, 
when John took us to see his folks ? Well, the 



PIGS TAME AND WILD. 1 33 

village was full of pigs, big and little. They 
were every-where in the streets, grunting and 
squealing. And they wallowed in the mud-pud- 
dles in the road, and then rubbed the mud off 
on the fence. Some of them slept under the 
houses, and those kept in small pens were a 
great deal worse. They were in mud up to 
their knees. O dear, no! I don't want to hear 
about pigs." 

"I have no doubt," said his mother, "that 
you saw all you describe, Joel, but I think the 
fault was the people's rather than the pigs'. 
That is a very slovenly and unnatural way to care 
for the animals. They had no chance to keep 
clean. I was just reading that an old writer of 
the sixteenth century says, ' The hog is the 
cleanliest of all animals.' " 

"Why, Mamma!" exclaimed Dora, "that old 
writer must be mistaken. Those that we saw 
were very disgusting ; and they were so fear- 
fully greedy — each trying to get all the food by 
fighting the others away — and all putting their 
dirty feet in the trough." 

"And all that," replied Mrs. Perry, "is only 
because the poor creatures were nearly starved. 
I am inclined to think that pigs are as clean as 
horses or cows, if they are given an equal chance. 
But I have thought of a way to learn about 
them which will be better than any mere descrip- 



134 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



tion. We will drive over to Colonel Mayfield's 
in Kentucky. He has invited me to take you 
all over there, and he keeps several varieties of 
fine pigs. So, this evening, I will read about 
the wild boar." 

" That will be nice," said Dora, "for then we 
can see the fine horses and cattle. It would be 
very stupid, though, if we could see nothing but 
pigs." 

"But, Mamma," asked little Ruth, "does 

Colonel Mayfield 
have some very 




little 



pigs 



And 



Wild Boar. 



do you think they 
are clean and soft, 
If^ like my kittens? " 
" Yes, I have no 
doubt," answered 
the mother, " that 
we shall see plenty of little pigs, as well as large 
ones ; and I think you will be delighted with 
them." Then Mrs. Perry read the following ac- 
count of the wild boar : 

Formerly, the wild boar abounded in the for- 
ests of England, France, Germany, Italy, and 
Spain. He is no longer found in England, but 
he still exists, and is hunted in Italy and Spain. 
The most ferocious boars are found in Africa 
and India. 



PIGS TAME AND WILD. 135 

There the boar is as large as a donkey, and 
he can run like a race-horse. His terrible tusks, 
which grow out and turn up on either side of 
his jaw, with his power of head and shoulder, 
make him an enemy dreaded by the lion and 
the tiger. 

The wild boar lives on plants, fruits, roots, 
worms, and reptiles. He turns up the ground in 
long furrows. His favorite haunt is the swampy 
jungle ; if possible, near a plantation of sugar- 
cane, in which he delights. He wants to lie in 
the moist shade during the day ; but at night he 
and his friends enter the cane fields, and de- 
stroy vast quantities of the crop. The sows, 
too, carry away the cane to make beds for their 
pigs. With considerable art they build little 
huts of the cane, having small entrances which 
they close when they leave their young alone. 

Hunting the boar is exciting and dangerous 
sport. It is carried on with spears, and is called 
" pig sticking." When the animal is brought 
to a stand by the dogs, he sometimes makes 
ferocious charges upon the horses, dogs, and 
men, and inflicts terrible wounds. 

The wild boar has few very near relations in 
a wild state. The peccary, which lives in Mex- 
ico and in southern Texas, is a wild pig much 
smaller than the boar, and without the great 
tusks. The deer-pig of the Malay islands has 



I36 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

strange horns growing out from its snout. The 
wart-hog of South Africa is an ugly creature 
with immense tusks for digging roots. 

All the pigs have four hoofed toes on each 
foot — two in front, and two, which do not touch 
the ground, behind. The strong, active muscle 
on the end of the snout reminds one of the cu- 
rious contrivance at the end of the elephant's 
trunk. The hippopotamus, which is more of a 
pig than of any other kind of animal, has his four 
toes hoofed, and all of them strike the ground. 
His skin and flesh are much like those of the pig, 
and he often sits on his haunches like a pig. 



38. THE SWINE-GENERAL. 

In Germany, almost every village has a swine- 
herd, who, at break of day, goes from house to 
house collecting his noisy troop, blowing his still 
more noisy cow-horn, and cracking his clumsy 
whip until the place echoes with the din. An 
amusing account has been given of this swine- 
herd or swine-general. 

Every morning I hear the blast of a horn, 
when, coming from almost every door in the 
street, behold a pig! The pigs generally pro- 
ceed of their own accord ; but shortly after they 



THE SWINE-GENERAL. 137 

have passed, there comes a little bare-headed 
child about eleven years old. 

This little attendant of the old swine-general 
knows every house from which a pig ought to 
come forth. She can tell by the door being open 
or shut, or by footmarks, whether the creature 
has joined the herd or is still snoring in its sty ; 
and if a pig, from indolence or greediness, loiters 
on the road, she gives him a cut as sharp as 
the sting of a wasp. 

Besides this little girl who brought up the 
rear, the herd was led by a boy of fifteen, whose 
duty it was to keep the foremost pigs from going 
too fast. In the middle of the herd, surrounded 
like a shepherd by his flock, slowly walked the 
swine-general. In his left hand he held a staff, 
while round his right shoulder hung a terrific 
whip. 

At the end of the whip-handle there was a 
lash about nine feet long, made of iron rings 
joined together by pieces of hard leather. The 
weight and force of this whip no pig could re- 
sist ; yet, as the old man proceeded down the 
town, he tried to speak kindly to the herd. 

As soon as the herd got out of the town they 
began to ascend the rocky, barren mountains 
which towered above them. Then the labors of 
the swine-general became greater than ever. In 
due time the drove reached the ground where 



138 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

they were to take their day's exercise. In this 
situation do the pigs remain every morning for 
four hours, enjoying little else but air and ex- 
ercise. 

At about nine or ten o'clock they begin their 
march homeward. There is a remarkable dif- 
ference between the manner in which they re- 
turn home, and that in which they leave their 
native town. Their eager desire to get to the 
dinner trough that is ready for them is so great 
that no sooner do they come near the first house 
of the town, than away each of them starts to- 
ward his home. 

At half past four the same horn is heard 
again. The pigs once more assemble, ascend 
the mountains, remain there for four hours, and 
in the evening return to their stys. Such is the 
life of the pigs, not only of this one village, but 
of every village throughout a great part of 
Germany. 



39. COLONEL MAYFIELD S PETS. 

It was a bright Saturday morning, and there 
was no school, when John the driver took Mrs. 
Perry and the children in the democrat wagon, 
and deposited them on Colonel Mayfield's shaded 
porch. The colonel received them kindly, and 



COLONEL MAYFIELD'S PETS. 139 

smiled under his broad-rimmed hat as he helped 
the mother and the little daughters from the 
carriage. Joel had jumped to the ground be- 
fore the horses came to a stop. 

li I have brought my little folks almost on pur- 
pose to see your pigs, Colonel Mayfield," said 
Mrs. Perry. " They have never seen well-kept 
pigs, and, very naturally, they are prejudiced by 
those they have seen." 

" I shall be most happy to show them what 
I have," said the colonel. "I raise some fine 
horses and cattle, but really the pigs are my 
pets. We will go right down to the yards, if 
you will bring them along." 

But the children were already scattered. Joel 
had found a group of young colts and was pat- 
ting their velvet noses. Dora was in the orchard 
admiring some Jersey calves, which looked like 
young fawns. And Ruth — was she not already 
shouting to her mother that she had found the 
pigs? 

"O Ruth!" cried her mother, "those are not 
pigs." 

"Yes, they are, Mamma; they're guinea-pigs; 
the lady says they are," shouted Ruth, in great 
delight. 

Mrs. Perry, Mrs. Mayfield, and the colonel 
laughed heartily at the innocent mistake of the 
little girl, and tried to show Ruth that her pigs 



140 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

were not pigs at all. But Ruth replied, " I 
don't see why they should call them pigs, then. 
They must be pigs." The picture of these falsely 
called pigs is on page 76. They were very tame, 
and it is not surprising that Ruth was carried 
away with them. 

Arrived at the yards, the colonel opened a 
door and displayed a long row of covered pens. 
Each pen opened into a small pasture-yard. The 
enclosures were whitewashed, the floors and the 
beds were clean, and the pigs, old and young, were 
as white as snow. The old sow had a trough 
which she had cleared of food, and there was a 
trough for the young things enclosed by slats 
near enough together to keep the mother out, 
and far enough apart to let the young ones in. 

The colonel ordered food for them all, while 
the children looked on with great interest. The 
little white fellows appeared so bewitching while 
drinking their milk, that Ruth reached down her 
hands and picked up one. It struggled and 
squealed, and this cry of distress excited its 
mother, and created an uproar in all the pens. 
Ruth declared they were very cunning, but not 
so pleasant to handle as were the guinea-pigs. 

"You see," said the colonel, "that pigs know 
something. They know when a little fellow 
squeals from hunger, and when he squeals from 
distress." 



COLONEL MAYFIELD'S PETS. 



141 



PART 2. 



11 These are Chester White pigs," explained 
the colonel. " They are an American breed, 
and were first raised in Chester county, Penn- 
sylvania. And these," he continued, passing to 
the next pen, "are Poland-China pigs, another 
American variety that originated near your home 




Berkshire Pig. 



in southern Ohio. You can see the two kinds 
are much alike in form. They have drooping 
ears, short noses and legs, and round bodies. 
The Chesters are white, but the Poland-Chinas 
are black with white spots, and for this reason 
are better liked by some farmers." 

At the next pen the children shouted with 
delight. The pigs were Berkshires, black as 
coal, except a white strip down the face, white 



142 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

feet, and a white tuft of hair on the tip of the 
curly tail. The faces dished so gracefully, the 
bodies were so plump, and the little pigs danced 
about so roguishly, that Joel confessed that he 
should never dislike pigs again. 

' 'And you will find, my lad," said the colonel, 
"that if you give pigs the same chance, they 
will keep themselves as neat as horses or dogs. 
These Berkshires are an English breed that 
has been cultivated for a hundred years or more. 
And these," he remarked, looking into the next 
pen, " are Suffolks or small Yorkshires, a kind 
still older than the Berkshires, and very pretty 
fellows they are, as you see, for white pigs." 

"And now," the colonel went on, "I will 
show you the common hog from which all these 
fine hogs have descended." He opened a gate, 
and up started a bevy of swine, large and small, 
which, seeing the strangers, with a bursting 
grunt, scattered to the remote corner of the 
clover field. 

" What dreadful looking creatures they are," 
exclaimed Dora. "Such long noses and long 
legs ; and they are not so round as the others. 
They are like the pigs we saw at Oakland, only 
they are cleaner. Indeed, they are almost like 
the wild boar." 

"You're right," said the colonel, "they are 
not so attractive as my pets are. We call them 



COLONEL MAYFIELD'S PETS. 143 

'landshads,' ' railsplitters ' or ' subsoilers.' They 
are the native hogs, which have had their own 
living to pick and dig ; therefore they need long 
noses and long legs. Turn those pretty Berk- 
shires loose in the woods and make them get 
their own living, and in a very few generations 
their descendants will have as long noses and 
legs as these." 

They returned to the house, and the colonel 
showed them a picture of the wild boar. "This 
is the animal from which all tame pigs have 
come," he said. " By care and kindness, through 
hundreds of years, men have made the Berk- 
shires and Suffolks from these fierce looking 
creatures.' ' 

Colonel Mayfield gave Dora Perry a little book 
containing stories about the intelligence of the 
pig. And Mrs. Mayfield put into Ruth's de- 
lighted hands a little basket which inclosed a 
pair of young guinea-pigs. Reaching his hand 
up to a nail on the wall of his library, Colonel 
Mayfield took down something that looked like 
a small French horn, only it was not of brass. 

" Here is something," he said to Joel, " which 
I will give to you. It has always been said 
that you can not make a whistle of a pig's tail. 
But here is a very good whistle which one of 
my men made from the tail of a Berkshire. Blow 
it, my boy, and remember there are some things 



144 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

that may be done, though every body says they 
can not be done." 

The children returned home greatly pleased 
with the day's experiences. 



40. THE RIVER PIG. 



The hippopotamus is found in most of the 
rivers of Africa which empty into the Atlantic 
or Indian Ocean; but in none, except the Nile, 
of those which empty into the Mediterranean. 
It is a very clumsy, awkward animal, remark- 
able chiefly for its enormous head and short 
legs. The male is much larger than the female. 
A full grown male sometimes reaches the size, 
though not the height, of the elephant. 

The feet are curiously constructed for walking 
among the reeds and mud of the river bottom, 
and for swimming with ease. The hoof is di- 
vided into four short, clumsy toes ; and the ani- 
mals are able, by their broad feet, to walk rap- 
idly even through the mud. 

The color of the skin is a clayey yellow. In 
the grown animal the color is a little darker. 
The skin of an adult hippopotamus is from one 
and a half to two inches thick. These animals 
unite in herds of from two to thirty. After they 
have chosen a spot, they like to remain there 



THE RIVER PIG. 



*45 



day after day, and month after month, unless 
they are disturbed or their food becomes scarce. 
They choose shallows in the rivers where the 
depth of the water will cover them when stand- 
ing. There they remain all day, swimming off 
into deep places, diving for their grassy food, 
or gamboling in the rivers. From time to time 




Hippopotami. 



they throw up a stream of water two or three 
feet high. It is pleasant to watch a herd peace- 
fully sporting, when they have two or three 
young ones among them. 

Some of the little fellows look very small, and 
are comically awkward. They chase each other 
about the shoals or play about their dams ; and 

I'. A.-,o. 



146 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

I have often seen them seated on the backs of 
their mothers in the water. How careful their 
mothers seemed to be, when they were swim- 
ming about and carrying their young in this way. 

When playing in the water the hippopotamus 
makes a noise very much resembling the grunt 
of a pig. This grunt it utters, also, when alarmed 
by the approach of man. How often I have 
studied their habits. I was once concealed on 
the bank of a river, under a very shady tree, 
watching them. Suddenly, not far from me, two 
huge beasts rose, as if by enchantment, to the 
surface of the water, and rushed headlong to- 
ward each other. 

Their vast and hideous mouths were opened 
to their utmost capacity, showing their huge, 
crooked teeth, which gave their mouth a savage 
appearance. Their eyes were flaming with rage, 
and each of them put forth all his power to de- 
stroy the other. They seized each other with 
their jaws ; they stabbed and punched with their 
strong tusks, wounding and tearing each other 
in a frightful manner, and breaking out in occa- 
sional loud gruntings. 

The combat lasted an hour. It was a grand 
sight. The water around them was sometimes 
white with foam. At last one turned about and 
made off, leaving the other master of the field. 
A few days after, I killed a hippopotamus, and 



OUR OLD COW AND HER NEAR RELATIONS. 147 

found its skin terribly torn. Doubtless it was 
one of the beasts I had seen fighting. 

The meat tastes not unlike beef. It is rather 
coarse-grained, and, in the case of this animal, 
it was not fat. It makes a welcome dish. I 
tried to have some steaks ; but I must say they 
were rather tough. The broth was better, and 
I enjoyed it very much. There was something 
novel in having hippopotamus soup. 



41. OUR OLD COW AND HER NEAR RELATIONS. 

People call her "old," though she may be 
young, because she is dear to the family. It 
is difficult to see how the children could be 
brought up without her. She turns hay and 
grass into milk for her calf, having a large por- 
tion to spare for the children. During thousands 
of years the old cow has grazed in the rich 
man's herd, or has stood at the poor man's gate, 
waiting to bless and to be blessed. 

Among the home cows of different countries 
there are some odd-looking ones. The Hun- 
garian cow has long, straight horns. The zebu, 
or sacred cow of India, carries a queer hump on 
her shoulders. The Yak of Thibet has extremely 
long hair. The Yak runs wild, like our bison, 
but it is tamed for family use, and answers the 



148 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



call of the little dairy-maid. Caesar, who con. 
quered Gaul, is said to have found in the forest 
cattle as large as elephants. 

Other cattle, half wild, some with long horns 
and some with short horns, were the companions 
of the ancient dwellers of Europe. From these, 
it is supposed, has descended our old cow. She 




Holstein Cow. 



is not handsome, but her eye is soft and gentle, 
especially so when she is chewing her cud. Her 
form is usually unattractive. Her horns may be 
long, or they may be crumpled, or she may be 
a mulley and have no horns. 

The cow or the ox may live twenty years. 
Cattle furnish for our necessities butter, cheese, 



OUR OLD COW AND HER NEAR RELATIONS. 149 

labor, and at least nine other useful articles 
which may be easily found out. A good com- 
mon cow will yield from three to five gallons of 
milk, or will produce a pound of butter each day 
during a portion of the year. 

Our old cow has some fine relations that have 
been kept in distinct families for a great many 
generations. Some of these, dressed in their 
best clothes, were seen by the Perrys at the 
State Agricultural Fair. There was a great cir- 
cular space or show ring into which the families 
were led. First came the Ayrshires. They are 
a Scotch family, have rather long, spreading 
horns, and, in color, are red and white. They 
yield a large quantity of milk and butter. 

Then came large black and white cows with 
short, curved horns and immense udders. They 
are the Dutch or Holstein cows. They were 
brought from the lowlands of Holland, where 
dairy-maids milk the cows, and where the cow- 
stable joins the kitchen and is kept as clean as 
the kitchen. The owner of these cows showed 
one animal which produced more than twenty- 
six thousand pounds of milk in one year, or an 
average of over eight gallons a day. 

No cow will yield much milk or butter without 
a plenty of food ; nor can she produce rich milk 
or butter without rich food. The best cow is 
one that makes the most of her food. 



150 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



PART 2. 



But who are these ? They are nimble and 
bright, with small heads, prominent black eyes, 
small, dark horns, and black noses encircled by 
light fillets. Their hoofs, their tongues, and the 
switches of their tails are nearly black ; and their 
bodies are clothed with a soft fawn or squirrel- 
colored coat. A few of them only have spots 
of white. Ah ! these are the Jerseys. The 
Perrys know them at once, for they saw dainty 
little Jerseys at Colonel Mayfield's. 

The Jersey family came from the island of 
the same name in the English Channel. Near 
by this island are two other islands called Al- 
derney and Guernsey. At first, a few of these 
cattle were shipped to this country from Alder- 
ney, and from this circumstance many people 
have been accustomed to call the Jerseys Al- 
derneys. 

The Guernsey cows are larger than the Jer- 
seys, and are not so handsome. They have 
large heads, light-colored noses, and parti-col- 
ored coats. The Channel Island cows, in their 
native homes, are tethered on the grass, tended, 
petted, and milked by dairy-maids, and are kind 
and gentle. All give extremely rich milk, which 
makes deeply colored, golden butter. 

Matilda 4th, a superior Jersey, during one 



OUR OLD COW AND HER NEAR RELATIONS. 



!5I 



month, produced an average of twenty-six pounds 
and four ounces of butter a week. Her yield for 
the year was nine hundred and fifty pounds. 

The Perry children were greatly pleased with 
the beef families. The round, dark-red Devons, 
with graceful white horns, came stepping along 




Jersey Cow. 



as lively as horses. They were originally from 
Devonshire in England. They are the best 
cattle for the yoke, and some of the cows are 
o-ood for milk and butter. Following them were 
the showy Herefords, another English breed. 
Their white faces, white horns, and white breasts 
made a gay contrast with their blood-red coats. 



152 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

Lastly, the Durhams or Shorthorns waddled 
into the ring, as if their great, fat bodies were 
too heavy a load for them to carry. The coats 
of some of them were peppered with red and 
salted with white. They are called roan-colored. 
The most of them were deep, solid red, and 
are called Roses of Sharon. "What huge bod- 
ies! What little heads! What small horns!" 
the children all exclaimed. It was difficult to 
think of them as near relations of the common, 
homely old cow. 

And then the Angus and the Galloway cattle 
appeared. They are Scottish breeds ; are large, 
jet black, and polled or hornless. 



42. CUD-CHEWERS. 



Who would believe that there are school chil- 
dren in the large cities of America who have never 
seen a cow? Such children there certainly are. 
They live in narrow and crowded streets where 
Bos and her friends never come. They may 
have seen her picture, and may have read Mother 
Goose's account of ''the cow with a crumpled 
horn." They may have tasted her milk; but 
beyond this they know little of a living cow. 

Children in the country are more highly fa- 
vored. They see cows every day. Let us ask 



CUD-CHEWERS. 



J 53 



them how much they really know about the cow. 
They know that she has two horns ; that she 
mows and hurries away her grass without wait- 
ing to chew it, and that she occasionally stops 
eating, pokes out her head and chews cud. 




How many of them can tell whether the cow's 
horns are solid or are hollow ; or how many toes 
she has on each foot ; or how many nipping 
teeth, if any, she has on her upper jaw ; or 
whether she has one stomach or more than one ; 
or where the cud comes from which she chews, 
and where it goes after she has chewed it ? 

The cow has four stomachs, one of which is 



154 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

quite large. Into this stomach or paunch, as it 
is called, the grass is sent as soon as it enters 
the mouth. By this means she can gather her 
food in the daylight or in the cool of the day, 
and then when night comes or when the sun is 
hot, she can lie down and chew her cud. 

The grass passes from the paunch into the 
second stomach, from which, in small parcels or 
balls, it is thrown up into the mouth. Here each 
mouthful is well chewed and mixed with saliva, 
and is then sent to the other stomachs, where 
it is thoroughly digested. Cows always appear 
happy when chewing their cud. 

Besides the camel and the tame sheep and 
goats, all of which are chewers of cud, there are 
many kinds of wild animals which are cow-like. 
Among these are the buffaloes, the gnu, the 
wild sheep and goats, and the giraffe. It is a 
great comfort to these creatures to be able to 
pack away their food in a hurry and chew it at 
their leisure ; indeed without this arrangement 
they could not live. 

In the same manner do antelopes and deer 
enjoy the convenience of their pockets or large 
stomachs. They are timid creatures because 
they have strong, fierce enemies. They must 
gather their food slyly, quickly, and be off. So, 
when the daylight is abroad and the ferocious 
flesh-eaters thirsting for their blood are asleep, 



CUD-CHEWERS. 1 55 

they slip softly into the open glades for their 
food. Quickly, nervously, with their ears and 
eyes open, they bite off their food and pack it 
away in their large pockets. Then away they 
skip like the wind to their secluded homes, 
where they eat over their food in safety. For 
the same reason deer, where they are in fear of 
hunters, hide in the day-time, and venture out 
by night in search of food. 

PART 2. 

The buffalo lives in South Africa, and is cun- 
ning and dangerous. He hides in the bushes, 
and watches for the hunter. When the hunter 
is passing his hiding-place, out dashes this furi- 
ous beast, often throwing his enemy into the air 
by the use of his great horns. 

Our American bison, which is commonly called 
the buffalo, is not dangerous unless he is wor- 
ried or wounded. The full-grown bull may 
weigh as heavy as two thousand pounds. In 
early times buffaloes abounded in the Eastern 
States. About a hundred years ago Daniel 
Boone shot a buffalo in Virginia. Bisons move 
in great herds, especially when they seek water- 
ing places. Thousands of them have been killed 
for their hides, and they are rapidly disappear- 
ing from the plains of the west. 



i56 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



Deer are shy, and seek safety from harm by 
the swiftness of their slender legs and nimble 
feet. The red deer is the common one of Eu- 
rope. The male has branching horns or antlers. 
The young fawns, until the first shedding of their 




African Buffaloes. 



coats, are spotted. Nearly like the red deer is 
the Virginia deer which abounds in the wild for- 
ests of America. The spotted deer, seen at the 
animal gardens, is the fallow deer of England or 
the axis deer of India. The scent of all animals 



CUD-CHEWERS. 



157 



of this kind is very keen, and to avoid it the 
hunter sometimes climbs a tree where he waits 
for his game to pass. 

The moose or elk is large, the male being as 
high as an ordinary horse. He has a great, ugly 
head, carrying immense horns, which are flat- 
tened out like broad palms. It is difficult to 
hunt the moose 
with success. At 
the slightest crack- 
ling of the leaves 
he starts and is 
away. 

The reindeer of 
Lapland is more 
clumsy than the 
common red deer. 
The hoofs are 
large, and the hind 
toes or dew claws Red Deer> 

almost touch the ground. There are both wild 
and tame reindeer, and both kinds love to o-ather 
in great herds. Of the tame kind, the rich North- 
man sometimes has a herd of forty or fifty thou- 
sand. Harnessed to a sledge, the reindeer can 
travel over the frozen snow a hundred miles in 
a day. 

To the Laplander his reindeer is at once a 
horse, a cow, a sheep, and a goat. From the 




158 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

milk cheese is made. The flesh is food. The 
skins and sinews are used for clothing, and the 
antlers are shaped into useful tools. In Kam- 
chatka the natives saddle and ride the reindeer, 
and make him a beast of burden. 



43. M00SE-HUNTIXG. 



In the North-west Territory of British x^mer- 
ica, in the region of the Peace River, is a vast 
home of many kinds of wild beasts which have 
disappeared from the more settled portions of 
the country. Here abound the moose — shy creat- 
ures with mulish-looking heads and ears. They 
are sometimes caught in snow-yards or driven 
into corrals, but the regular hunt for the moose 
is difficult. 

Captain Butler, who was well acquainted with 
the Peace-River country, describes the way in 
which the Indians hunt the moose. 

No man save the Indian or the half Indian 
can hunt the moose with a chance of success. 
Hunting the moose in summer and winter is one 
thing ; killing him in a snow-yard or running him 
down in deep snow is another. The two meth- 
ods are as widely different as killing a salmon, 
which another man has hooked for you, is differ- 
ent from hooking one yourself. 



MOOSE-HUNTING. 



159 



To hunt the moose requires years of study. 
Here is the little game which his instinct teaches 
him. When the early morning has come he 
begins to think of lying down for the day. He 
has been feeding on the gray and golden willow 
tops as he walked leisurely along. His track is 
marked in the snow or soft clay; he carefully 
retraces his footsteps, and breaking off suddenly 
to the leeward side, lies down a gun-shot from 
his feeding track. 
He knows he must 
catch the w T ind of 
any one following 
his trail. 

In the morning, 
Twa-poos, or the 
Three Thumbs, 
sets forth to look 
for a moose. He hits the trail and follows it ; 
every now and then he examines the broken 
willow tops or the hoof-marks. When experi- 
ence tells him that the moose has been feeding 
here during the early night, Twa-poos quits the 
trail, bending away in a deep circle to leeward. 
Stealthily he returns to the trail, and as stealth- 
ily bends away again from it. At each return 
to it he examines attentively the willows, and 
judges how near he is to the game. 

At last he is so near that he knows for an 




American Moose. 



160 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

absolute certainty that the moose is lying in a 
thicket a little ahead. Now comes the trying 
moment. He removes every article of clothing 
that might cause the slightest noise in the for- 
est. Even his moccasins are laid aside, and 
then on the tips of his toes he goes forward for 
the last trial. Every bush is now closely watched ; 
every thicket is examined. See ! he stops all 
at once. You who follow him look, and look in 
vain ; you can see nothing. He laughs to him- 
self and points to yon willow covert. No, there 
is nothing there. 

He noiselessly cocks his gun. You look again 
and again, but you can see nothing. Then Twa- 
poos suddenly stretches out his hand and breaks 
a little twig from an overhanging branch. In 
an instant right in front, thirty or forty yards 
away, an immense dark-haired animal rises up 
from the willows. He gives one look in your 
direction, and that look is his last. Twa-poos 
has fired, and the moose is either dead in his 
thicket or within a hundred yards of it. 

The Rev. Mr. Gordon, gliding in a boat down 
a small river in the same country, describes 
another moose-hunt : 

We were being borne pleasantly along by the 
strong and steady current when, hush! "there's 
a moose," said Charlie, and no one dared to 
trust Charlie's keen vision. The splashing oars 



WILD REINDEER. l6l 

are silenced; all eyes are turned away from 
stream, and hill, and wood s and are centered in 
one direction. Sure enough, there it is at some 
distance down the river's bank, close by the 
river's edge. 

Eager hands grasp the rifles, for we have 
been hoping for a chance like this. The boat 
drops quietly down the current, each head is 
bent low, we draw nearer and nearer, and we 
will soon be within safe and easy range. No ! 
surely, it can not be ! Yes it is — a great, brown 
rock! A growl of disappointment, then a gen- 
eral roar, and a proposal to present Charlie with 
a pair of spectacles, and our solitary moose-hunt 
is over. 



44. WILD REINDEER. 



The reindeer is about the size of the common 
red deer. His legs are much shorter, and his 
hoofs spread more widely. His dew-claws are 
very long and nearly touch the ground. This 
makes him sure-footed. His gait, like that of 
the moose, is a swift trot. 

The wild reindeer, in his native snows, is sel- 
dom visited by civilized man ; and it is a thing 
to be remembered during life to have seen him 
there. Climb the precipices of that rugged 



F. A. -n. 



l62 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



mountain chain that forms the backbone of 
Norway. Here and there a little reindeer moss 
fills the crevices of the shattered rocks, and this 
is all that is green in a wilderness of rocks and 
snow. 

You must plunge through the soft snow above 
your knees for many a weary mile. Suddenly, 

turning around a 
rocky cliff, the guide 
makes a quick 
movement with his 
hand, and whispers 
the single word 
" reins ! " pointing, 
as he couches down, 
to those black 
specks on the white 
mountain-side fully 
two miles off. Now 
all is excitement. 
The telescope dis- 
tinctly makes them 
out — an old buck above, as guard and watcher; 
a doe and her calf a little lower down. 

What caution now is necessary in hunting the 
noble game ! There is a broad valley to cross 
full in their view. You must creep low and in 
line, concealing your rifles, lest the flashing of 
the sun on the gun-barrels betray you ; and you 




WILD REINDEER. 163 

must not speak except in the gentlest whisper. 
The valley is securely crossed. One more obsta- 
cle is to be overcome. There is a brawling tor- 
rent to be waded, and then you will be among 
the rocks. 

Has the buck caught scent of you on the 
wind ? He springs to his feet, shakes his spread- 
ing antlers, and sniffs the air, then walks lei- 
surely up the hill-side, followed by his family, 
and all disappear over the rocky ridge. 

Now is the time for speed ! Up, up the hill ! 
Scramble under, over, through the great, loose 
fragments, but noiselessly, silently, for the game 
are probably not far off. Now you are at the 
rock over which you saw them go. The guide 
peeps cautiously over and beckons. Then he 
lies down on the snow, and wriggles from rock 
to rock to get around where he may drive the 
game toward you. The deer are still busy 
munching the moss which they scrape from be- 
neath the snow. 

A few minutes of breathless excitement. The 
hunter shows himself on yonder peak. The no- 
ble buck trots majestically towards you, his head 
thrown up, and his fine horns spreading far on 
each side of his back. He stops — snuffs — starts ; 
but too late! The rifle-ball has sped, his hoofs 
are kicking up the blood-stained snow, and he 
is dead. 



164 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



45. A TRUE STORY OF A FAWN. 

Down from a mountain's craggy brow 

His homeward way a hunter took, 

By a path that wound to the vales below 

At the side of a leaping brook. 

Long and sore had his journey been, 

By the dust that clung to his forest green, 

By the stains on his broidered moccasin ; 

And over his shoulder his rifle hung, 

And pouch and horn at his girdle swung. 

The eve crept westward ; soft and pale 

The sunset poured its rosy flood, 

Slanting over the wooded vale ; 

And the weary hunter stood 

Looking down on his cot below, 

Watching his children there at play — 

Watching the swing on the chestnut-bough 

Flit to and fro through the twilight gray, 

Till the dove's nest rocked on its quivering spray. 

Faint and far through the forest wide 

Came a hunter's voice and a hound's deep cry ! 

Silence, that slept in the rocky dell, 

Scarcely waked as her sentinel 

Challenged the sound from the mountain-side. 



A TRUE STORY OF A FAWN. 165 

Over the valleys the echo died, 

And a doe sprang lightly by, 

And cleared the path, and panting stood 

With her trembling fawn by the leaping flood. 

She spanned the torrent at a bound, 

And swiftly onward, winged by fear, 

Fled as the cry of the deep-mouthed hound 

Fell louder on her ear! 

And, pausing by the waters deep, 

Too slight to stem their rapid flow, 

Too weak to dare the perilous leap, 

The fawn sprang wildly to and fro, 

Watching the flight of her lithe-limbed doe. 

Now she hung o'er the torrent's edge, 

And sobbed and wept as the waves shot by ; 

Now she paused on the rocky ledge, 

With head erect, and steadfast eye, 

Listening to the staghound's cry. 

Close from the forest the deep bay rang, 

Close in the forest the echoes died, 

And over the pathway the brown fawn sprang, 

And crouched at the hunter's side. 

Deep in the thickets the boughs unclasped, 
Leaped apart with a crashing sound ; 
Under the lithe vines, sure and fast, 
Came on the exulting hound : 
Yet baffled, stopped to bay and glare 



l66 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

Far from the torrent's bound! 
For the weeping fawn still crouching there 
Shrank not nor fled, but closer pressed 
And laid her head on the hunter's breast. 



46. CATCHING BUFFALO CALVES. 

A few weeks since, Ike Trafton and several 
companions fitted up a sort of cage, and went 
to the hunting grounds on the Platte River to 
see if they could capture a load of buffalo calves. 
One of the party wished to try the experiment 
of taming a few young buffaloes. The chase 
proved a success, owing chiefly to Ike's strength 
and pluck, and to the intelligence and speed of 
Spicy, his horse. 

During the night, troops of buffaloes (or more 
correctly, bisons), began to pass the hunter's 
camp on their way to water ; doubtless choosing 
the night because they had recently been hunted 
by day. It was curious to see them on their 
march. Slowly and majestically they stalked 
along, about half as fast as a man's walk, w r ith 
a patriarch as leader. Had they not come with 
the wind, their strong sense of smell would have 
warned them of danger when within three miles; 
as it was, they came very near. 



CATCHING BUFFALO CALVES. 



167 




American Bisons. 



Only Spicy's head was seen by them, as he 
looked over the low hillock behind which he 
was picketed. The motion of the horse's head 
aroused their attention, and their captain was 
heard to give a low command. In an instant 
every hoof rested upon the earth. When the 
leader had satisfied himself that no mischief was 
brewing, he said i4 Boo!" and the march was 
resumed. Every troop that passed did as the 
first had done. 

When a herd comes within smelling distance 
of water it becomes excited. The speed in- 
creases. Faster and faster it goes. All the tails 
begin to rise. When the water is quite near 
ever)- tail stands straight out, and the whole 



1 68 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

herd thunders along almost as fast as a good 
horse can run. 

The horses of Ike and his party were well fed 
while it was yet dark, and at sunrise the hunt 
began. Several full-grown animals were shot 
down for their meat, the hunters dashing into 
the herd and using their revolvers. A large 
calf, of perhaps eight months old, was noticed to 
hang wearily behind the herd. Ike immediately 
gave chase, hoping to capture it unhurt. 

The plains abound with the holes of prairie- 
dogs, and should a careless horse chance to 
prance into one of them, the rider would have 
a dangerous fall ; particularly if an enraged buf- 
falo were pursuing. But Spicy had been reared 
on the plains, and, like all such animals, had 
learned to avoid both the thorns of the cactus 
and the dog-holes. 

Spicy's superior speed soon left the hunters 
behind. The calf showed signs of distress, and 
often staggered and stumbled. Ike thought it 
sick ; but he learned later that it only acted as 
all buffalo calves act when pursued just after 
drinking. It soon came to a stand, turned, 
erected its tail, and charged its pursuer. Three 
or four times Spicy jumped entirely over the calf. 

At length the horse stood still, and received 
the blow in his shoulder. At the same time Ike 
clutched its shaggy topknot, slid to the ground, 



WILD AND COW-LIKE. 1 69 

caught hold of one hind and one fore leg, and 
threw the calf in a moment. Taking a strap 
from his horse's bridle, and sitting upon the 
calf s body, he tied its feet securely. There was 
great rejoicing over the first capture. In all, the 
hunters took eleven calves. 



47. WILD AND COW-LIKE. 

Antelopes, like the cow, chew cud, and have 
divided hoofs with dew-claws. They have hollow 
horns which are not, like the horns of the deer, 
lost and renewed. Like the deer, they are 
mostly fleet of foot, and keen of scent and sight. 

In Africa, the home of wild beasts, there are 
large, heavy, ox-like antelopes called elands. 
Most antelopes, how- 
ever, are small and 
light, and run by bound- 
ing from the ground, 
as if their le<js were 
made of steel springs. 
They live in companies, 
and have some ways African springbok, 

which are like those of the sheep. Their stu- 
pidity and curiosity often cost them their lives, 
which their swift feet might easily save. 

When any thing startles them, instead of run- 




170 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

ning far away, they jump a short distance, and 
then turn about to see what is the matter. This 
foolish action presents their faces to the deadly 
bullet of the hunter. Their flesh is not so pal- 
atable as is the meat of the deer, on account of 
the flavor of musk which it always has. 

The gazelle of North Africa weighs only 
seventy pounds. His color is so nearly like the 
color of the sandy desert that it is difficult to 
discover him. The yellow skin is as sleek as 
satin. The head is adorned by two curved 
black horns and by a pair of large, soft, jet-black, 
bright eyes. 

The Arabs chase the gazelle with the grey- 
hound. At first, the supple, airy things fly away 
like pigeons, leaving the hounds behind. Then 
they fall victims to their folly. They stop short. 
They turn about to see the fun of the running 
dogs, and, in their joy, bound up from the ground 
again and again until they are tired. Mean- 
while, the dogs have surrounded and made them 
prisoners. 

The springbok of South Africa is the favorite 
of the hunter. It is gayly dressed in dark and 
white colors. " It will allow any dog, except a 
greyhound, to approach near to it, when all at 
once it will spring with a leap into the air, and 
alighting six feet away, will leap up again, like 
an india-rubber ball, bounding and rebounding 



WILD AND COW-LIKE. 



171 



from the earth. And so, resting and bounding 
the chase goes on, till the antelope, weary of 
the sport, makes off completely, and becomes a 
mere speck on the 
distant plain." 

The chamois- 
skin, used for rub- 
bing furniture, calls 
to mind the little 
goat-like antelope 
of the Swiss Alps. 
The chamois gather 
in small herds, and 
one of the females 
stands out from the 
rest as a watch- 
man. When dan- 
ger approaches, she 
gives a whistling noise and stamps with her foot. 
Cloven-footed and sharp-clawed, they climb up 
dangerous and steep places where men dare not 
go. They also slide clown precipices, striking on 
their horns without injury. 

PART 2. 

Ttie only antelope found in America is the 
prong-horn of the Rock)' Mountains. It is a 
queer animal. Its horns are hollow, and yet 
they are divided or pronged ; and the covers or 




Chamois of the Alps. 



172 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



sheaths of the horns fall off and are renewed 
every year. Like others of its kind, the prong- 
horn is foolish and suffers by its curiosity. 

The hunter ties a handkerchief to the muzzle 
of his gun, and holds it up in plain sight. The 
prong-horn must see what this strange thing is. 
So it approaches nearer and nearer, until within 

range of the rifle, 
when bang ! the gun 
fires, and the ante- 
lope usually falls. 

The gnu of South 
Africa is a singular 
animal. It has the 
habits of an ante- 
lope, but it looks 
like several other 
animals. It has the 
horns and hoofs of 
the African buffalo, 
with a mane and a 
tail like those of the 
horse. It is sometimes called the horned horse, 
and is frequently found in company with wild 
asses and zebras. 

The giraffe is called the camelopard, because 
it was once thought that its head resembles the 
head of the camel, while its skin, being spotted, 
looks like the skin of the pard or leopard. The 




African Gnu. 



THE PETERKINS AT THE MENAGERIE. 173 

giraffe is not quite an antelope, nor yet quite like 
a deer. Its horns are like those of the antelope, 
and its feet are like the feet of a cow. It is in- 
teresting to watch the cud as it climbs up through 
the long neck to the mouth. The giraffe is the 
tallest of all animals. The male is twelve feet 
high at the shoulder, and, in some cases, twenty 
feet to the crown of his head. 

The giraffe lives on the plain near the edge 
of the forest. It feeds on the foliage of trees. 
With its sharp eyes lifted high, it can readily 
watch the movements of its two enemies — man 
and the lion. Its gait, when running, is awk- 
ward but swift. Its kick is terrible. The skin 
is very thick, and makes valuable leather. The 
bones of its legs are hard and are made into 
buttons. The Arabs use the sinews of the legs 
for thread, and for the strings of their musical 
instruments. 



48. THE PETERKINS AT THE MENAGERIE. 

In the afternoon, all the family came together 
in the entry, ready to go to the menagerie — 
the little boys in their india-rubber boots. 

"The giraffe," said Mr. Peterkin, <k is the same 
as the camelopard. Can any one tell me more 
about him ? " 



174 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 




Giraffe. 



"The camel is sometimes called the ship of 
the desert/' said one of the little boys. 

"Let Agamemnon speak first," said Mr. Pe- 
terkin, "he was a week in college and ought to 
know." 

" The fore legs of the camelopard," began Ag- 
amemnon, "are much longer than the hind legs, 
which are very short." 

"It must look like a rabbit," said Mrs. Pe- 
terkin. 



THE PETERKINS AT THE MENAGERIE. 175 

"Yes, Mamma," they all said. 

" But then," said Solomon John, " I think the 
fore legs of the rabbit are short, and the hinder 
ones long." 

"We can easily see," said Mr. Peterkin ; u we 
can go and look at our own rabbits." 

" Yes," cried the little boys," " let us all go 
and see our rabbits." So they went to the rab- 
bit-hutch, at the very end of the garden. 

"You are right," said Mrs. Peterkin, "their 
hind legs are long. How very singular an ani- 
mal must look made the other way." On the 
way back through the garden Mr. Peterkin asked 
some more about the camelopard or giraffe. 

" It feeds on the leaves of trees," said Solo- 
mon John. " It is tall enough to crop them." 

Mrs. Peterkin stopped and exclaimed, " An 
animal like a rabbit turned the other way, tall 
enough to feed on the leaves of trees ! Solo- 
mon John, you must be mistaken ! 

"The trees in their country," said Elizabeth 
Eliza, "are not so high, perhaps." 

"Do let us go and see," cried the little boys 
impatiently. 

"Well," said Mr. Peterkin, "perhaps we had 
not better wait any longer." 

The)' all went out into the street, and walked 
along in a row. There was a great crowd in- 
side the tent, and Elizabeth Eliza thought she 



176 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

heard bears roar. The little boys stopped the 
first thing to see the monkeys. 

" Papa," they asked, "do not monkeys usu- 
ally have grinding organs ? " 

"I have seen them with grinding organs in 
the streets," said Mr. Peterkin, " but I should 
not expect it in a menagerie." 

Mrs. Peterkin passed on to the ostrich. " Is 
this the giraffe? " she asked of the keeper. 

" That is the ostrich; don't you see it is a 
bird?" cried Agamemnon. 

" Let us stop and look at it," said Mr. Pe- 
terkin. 

" It does look like a camel, ma'am," said the 
keeper ; " and, like the camel, it inhabits the des- 
ert. It will eat leather, grass, hair, iron, stones, 
or any thing that is given to it, and its eggs 
weigh over fifteen pounds." 

11 Dear me, how useful! " said Mrs. Peterkin. 
" I think we might keep one to eat up our broken 
crockery, and one egg w r ould last for a week ; 
and what a treasure to have at Thanksgiving! " 

They soon came to the giraffe. " It is a tall 
animal," exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin. 

" It must be hard to ride him," said Solomon 
John, "there is such a slope from his head to 
his tail." 

"He is quite different from a rabbit," said 
Mrs. Peterkin, "there is such a difference in the 



THE PETERKINS AT THE MENAGERIE. 177 

length of the legs, and this animal is very much 
taller than the rabbit." 

The Peterkins staid at the menagerie till it 
was dark, asking many questions, and wonder- 
ing at the strange animals they saw. At last, 
when they were outside the tent again, they 
counted up the children and found the little boys 
were missing. They all turned back to look for 
them. No little boys were found. 

Mrs. Peterkin stopped a long time in front of 
the tiger's cage; the tiger looked quite wicked 
enough to have eaten the little boys, but the 
keeper explained to her that they could not 
have got in between the wires. 

Elizabeth looked closely among the monkeys, 
but could not find the little boys. She would 
have known them by their rubber boots. A 
number of stray little boys were brought to her, 
but they were not the right ones. She was filled 
with the blackest fears, and wanted to sit right 
down and cry ; but the postmaster came along, 
and persuaded Mrs. Peterkin to go home. 

Meanwhile, the postmaster and Mr. Peterkin 
were to walk around the inclosure, and two po- 
licemen were to pass through the middle. This 
was done, and the parties met in a place behind 
the tent of the two-headed woman. And just 
there, sitting on a log, were the two little boys, 
each eating an apple tart. 

F. A.-12. 



178 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



49. MARY WHO HAD THE LITTLE LAMB. 

Most of our young readers will be surprised 
to hear that the well-known nursery song of 
"Mary had a little Lamb," is a true story, and 
that Mary is still living. About seventy years 
ago she was a little girl, the daughter of a 
farmer in Worcester county, Massachusetts. 




Merino Sheep. 



She was very fond of going with her father to 
the fields to see the sheep. One day they found 
a baby lamb which was thought to be dead. 
Kind-hearted little Mary, however, lifted it up 
in her arms, and as it seemed to breathe, she 
carried it home, made it a warm bed near the 
stove, and nursed it tenderly. 



MARY WHO HAD THE LITTLE LAMB. 1 79 

Great was her delight when, after weeks of 
careful feeding and watching, her little patient 
began to grow well and strong. Soon after this 
it was able to run about. It knew its own mis- 
tress perfectly, always came at her call, and was 
happy only when at her side. 

One day it followed her to the village school, 
and, not knowing what else to do with it, she 
put it under her desk and covered it with her 
shawl. There it staid until Mary was called 
up to the teacher's desk to say her lesson, when 
the lamb walked quietly after her. The other 
children burst out laughing. So the teacher had 
to shut the little girl's pet in the woodshed un- 
til school was out. 

Soon after this, a young student, named John 
Rollstone, wrote a little poem about Mary and 
her lamb, and presented it to her. The lamb 
grew to be a sheep, and lived for many years. 
When at last it died, Mary grieved so much for 
it, that her mother took some of its wool, which 
was " white as snow," and knitted a pair of 
stockings for her to wear in remembrance of her 
darling. 

Some years after the lamb's death, Mrs. Sarah 
Hall, a celebrated woman who wrote books, com- 
posed some verses about Mary's lamb, and 
added them to those written by John Rollstone, 
making the complete poem as we know it. Mary 



l8o FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

took such good care of the stockings made of 
her lamb's fleece, that when she was a grown 
woman she gave one of them to a church fair in 
Boston. 

As soon as it became known that the stock- 
ing was made from the fleece of " Mary's little 
lamb," every one wanted a piece of it. So the 
stocking was raveled out, and the yarn cut into 
short pieces. Each piece was tied to a card on 
which Mary wrote her full name, and these cards 
sold so well that they brought the large sum of 
one hundred and forty dollars. 



50. SHEEP AND GOATS. 



As the story of Cinderella and the Slipper 
teaches something about human nature, so the 
story of Mary and her lamb shows something 
about both human and sheep nature. The sheep 
is the most helpless and defenseless of all the 
domestic animals. Except for the kindness and 
care of little Mary the lamb must have perished. 

During many hundreds and even thousands 
of years, sheep have been kept by shepherds. 
They have depended upon the shepherd to find 
their feeding places. In this way the sheep fam- 
ily have lost the wit which belongs to animals 
that are obliged to search for their own food. 



SHEEP AND GOATS. 



181 



They have also looked to the shepherd for pro- 
tection from their enemies. This has caused 
them to grow stupid. 

The dog defends himself with his teeth ; the 
kitten scratches up a tree where the dog can not 
catch her ; the cow drives the dog before her 
lowered horns ; the horse punishes his foes with 











j sK!*'*"^ v St '-"j£® 






: *v-*5» 






1 w^ 






' r -&smf'' 




ft* ^Z^^^^^^U^* " ^ " 






m^^m^i 






IwB 


W S^E - - 





Southdown Sheep. 



his hoofs ; and the antelope darts away from its 
enemy like an arrow. But the poor sheep can 
neither run nor fight. It has lost both the 
weapons and the courage necessary for defense. 
The ewe can not protect her lamb. When in 
trouble, the shepherd, or the sheep-dog, or some 
kind Mar) must bring her help. 



l82 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

Sheep are so timid that, when they are alarmed, 
they only huddle together. Those in the middle 
of the crowd alone feel safe. They are afraid 
of strangers. They trust none but their own 
shepherd. " They hear his voice : and he call- 
eth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them 
out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, 
he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him : 
for they know his voice. And a stranger will 
they not follow, but will flee from him ; for they 
know not the voice of strangers." 

There are many kinds of sheep. The most 
ancient family, descended from the sheep of the 
patriarchs, is the Merino. The Merino is small, 
weighing about eighty pounds. Its wool is short, 
very fine, and lies in folds or ruffles about the 
body. Its fleece will weigh from seven to fifteen 
pounds. The Merino ram has large, spiral horns. 
This family is called " fine-wooled sheep," and 
comes to us from Spain. 

The Southdown is a middle-wooled sheep, and 
is famous for its mutton. It weighs twice as 
much as the Merino, produces a less weight of 
wool, and^ is without horns. Its head and legs 
are nearly black. The Leicester and Cotswold 
are long-wooled sheep. They weigh more than 
the Southdown, and when in full fleece, appear 
very large. Their fleece is coarse, and is not so 
heavy as is that of the Merino. These large 



SHEEP AND GOATS. 



I8 3 



sheep have white faces and are hornless. All 
the large sheep originated in England. 

The tame sheep has some strange wild cous- 
ins. One of these is the Big-horn of the Rocky 
Mountains. There is much hair mixed with the 
very short wool of these sheep. They are good 
climbers and jumpers, and their flesh is excel- 
lent. The male 
may weigh three 
hundred aud fifty 
pounds. His horns 
are large, each 
measuring around 
the curve more than 
two feet. 

The Musk sheep 
or Musk ox, of Arc- 
tic America, is a 
little larger than a 
Cotswold sheep. 
Its long, hairy coat 
is fine, and is used 
by the Esquimos 




W'' 



Rocky Mountain Big-horn. 

for various purposes. The 
flesh is much like venison, and is not strong in 
the flavor of musk. Musk sheep live in small 
herds and feed upon mosses and grasses. The 
herd places a sentinel on duty, who stamps and 
snorts when danger is near. 

It is easy to see that goats are different from 



1 84 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



sheep, but it is not so easy to describe the dif- 
ference. Some goats have hair alone, and oth- 
ers wear a large amount of wool. The appear- 
ance of the common goat we know. His horns, 
his beard, his short, erect tail, his strong legs 
and high hoofs, all mark him as different from 
the sheep. 

The disposition of the goat, as everybody 
knows, is not like that of the sheep. He is not 



timid. When the 
butts, he dash- 
ward on the 
Billy-goat 
often find 
upon his 
throwing 
down and 
ways upon 
The goat is 
man's cow, and 
are made into fine 




Angora Goat. 



ram of the sheep 
es straight for- 
ground. The 
as boys 
out, rises 
hind legs, 
himself 
partly side- 
his enemy, 
often the poor 
the skins of kids 
morocco and into 



kid gloves. In the Central Park in New York, 
trained goats are driven to small carriages, and 
add greatly to the pleasure of children. The 
goat has more intelligence than the sheep. 

The Cashmere goat ol Thibet wears a long 
hair, under which a fine, soft wool grows, a half 
pound of which is gathered from a single animal, 
and sells at the rate of a dollar and a half a pound. 



THE SHIP OF THE DESERT. 185 

Of this precious wool the cashmere shawls are 
made. Equally attractive is the Angora goat, 
which is at home about the city of Angora, in 
Asia Minor. It yields about two and a half 
pounds of fine, silky hair. The skin of this kind 
of goat, as prepared at the city of Morocco, is 
the genuine and valuable morocco leather. 



51. THE SHIP OF THE DESERT. 

If the desert may be called a sea of sand, 
then the camel is a good ship to sail over that 
sandy sea. The Arab proverb says: " His gait 
is so soft that you may drink a cup of coffee 
while you ride him." Some people, however, 
have thought camel-riding tiresome and unpleas- 
ant. This is because some camels ride easily, 
while others move roughly. 

The desert is as dry as the ocean is wet. 
No animal, except the camel, can endure the 
crossing of its scorching sands, under the fierce 
burning of the tropical sun. If watered at night 
before starting, the camel can carry his load of 
five hundred pounds or more for two days, trav- 
eling a distance ot a hundred miles before he 
drinks again. From Cairo in Egypt to Suez and 
Mecca is a great public road. Over this road 



l86 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

camels are driven in long processions or cara- 
vans. A single caravan has contained six thou- 
sand camels. 

Besides his load of freight or passengers, the 
camel carries food and drink for his driver and 
other riders. While he is moving, the Arabs 
often sleep on his back ; and their women some- 
times grind wheat and cook food on the deck of 
this dry ship. The distance from Cairo to Suez 
is eighty-four miles. The camel will perform 
this journey in twelve hours. When more than 
a mile away from a well he will smell the water, 
and then the whole caravan, almost like a herd 
of buffaloes, will rush for the well. 

What a sober face he has ! What an awk- 
ward neck ! What an ugly hump on his back ! 
What queer legs, and what odd feet ! Some 
one has truly said that the camel is the ugliest 
and most necessary animal. He is. fitted to his 
place. His legs are long, limber, and without a 
pound of flesh, except the necessary muscles. 
Each foot rests on a pad or cushion, and has 
two toes covered by hoofs. 

There are also hard pads on the camel's breast, 
and on the joints of his legs, to protect the ani- 
mal when he kneels to receive his burden. Like 
the cow, the deer, and the sheep, the camel is 
a cud-chewer. Unlike these animals he has two 
nipping teeth in his upper jaw. In the largest 



THE SHIP OF THE DESERT. 



187 




Bactrian Camel and Dromedary. 



of his four stomachs are water-cells. These 
store away water, which at times rises to moisten 
the throat and to refresh the dry lips. 

The camel of Africa and Arabia has a single 
hump, and is called the dromedary. The camel 
of Northern Persia is the Bactrian camel, and 
has two humps. The length of the dromedary 
is about ten feet, and the height seven feet. The 
Bactrian is larger than the dromedary. The 
camel's hump is a lump of fat, which increases 



l88 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

rapidly when he has plenty of green food, and 
then serves as a store-house of food which nour- 
ishes the beast during his long fasts. Bactrian 
camels are used in harness and before wagons. 
A pair of them can draw a weight of over three 
thousand pounds a journey of fifty miles a day, 
without food, water, or rest. 

The young camel or calf is raised among the 
children in the tent, and is separated from his 
mother when he is a year old. A ring is riv- 
eted in his nose to hold him with, if necessary, 
and he is taught to kneel when he receives his 
burden. He wears no bit in his mouth, but is 
guided by a single strap attached to his nose. 
When four years old he is fit for service. 

Sometimes a camel becomes particularly angry 
at his master. Then he may be dangerous, but 
he is equally foolish. The Arab treats him in 
this way : He strips off his clothes and throws 
them down before the enraged beast and then 
hides behind him. The stupid animal dashes 
away at the clothes until his anger is satisfied, 
when the driver returns, puts on his abused gar- 
ments', and the trouble is soon forgotten. 

The milk of the camel is used by the Arabs 
as cow's milk. The flesh of the calf is delicate, 
like veal. The coat is colored like the sand of 
the desert. The long, coarse hair is made into 
halter ropes, sackcloth and tent covering. The 



MILK-GIVERS OF THE SEA. 189 

cloth is water-proof; and this may be a reason 
why John the Baptist wore raiment of camel's 
hair when preaching in the wilderness. The 
softer wool, taken from the under parts of the 
camel, is woven into fine, costly shawls. 



52. MILK-GIVERS OF THE SEA. 

The young reader will observe, if he thinks 
about what he reads, that all the animals de- 
scribed in this little book give milk and suckle 
their young. Puppies, kittens, calves, and lambs 
are often seen in the act of taking nourisnment 
from their mothers, or dams, as they are called. 

But it would be a mistake to suppose that 
all milk-giving animals live exclusively on the 
ground. There is the bat, for example. How 
many think the bat is a bird because it flies in 
the air. But the bat is not a bird, and lays no 
eggs. It suckles its young, something which 
birds can not do. And besides these milkers 
of the air, there are milkers in the sea. Among 
these are the porpoises, that sport about ocean 
vessels; dolphins, sea-cows, and whales. 

So often is whale-catching spoken of as whale- 
fishing, that a great man)' people suppose the 
whale is a fish. The whale, however, gives 



190 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

milk, and rears its young as the cow rears its 
calf. The fish is a water-breathing animal, and 
the whale, porpoise, seal, and sea-lion are air- 
breathing animals. 

The seal and the sea-lion have four limbs, 
called flippers. These animals are from three to 
six feet long, and weigh from fifty to four hun- 
dred pounds, according to their age. The most 




The California Sea-lion. 



of us never see more of the seal than its finely- 
dressed skin, which is made into gloves and 
ladies' cloaks. The sea-lion is a familiar and 
noisy member of the zoological garden. 

Feeding the sea-lions forms a pleasant attrac- 
tion in the Cincinnati Garden. In a circular 
pond of water the sea-lion amuses itself, occa- 
sionally climbing upon the rock-work where it 



MILK-GIVERS OF THE SEA. 191 

may be seen flopping its flippers and swaying its 
head from side to side. Its motion in the water 
is very swift. When it climbs out of the water 
it is so awkward in the use of its flippers that 
it seems as if they are not fastened on right. 

By and by comes the man with a pail of fish, 
and crosses to a high platform in the middle of 
the pond. He pronounces the name of the ani- 
mal, and away goes the sea-lion to a flight of 
stairs, and glides to the top of the platform as 
swiftly as a kitten. The man holds a fish as 
high as his arm will reach, when the lion rises 
on its hind flippers and catches the food as 
nimbly as a rat-terrier. Then a fish is thrown 
into the pond, when the lion bounds from the 
platform and swallows the fish almost as soon as 
it touches the water. 

The sea-lion in the garden is the California 
sea-lion, and was brought from the Pacific coast 
where, as represented in the illustration, it is 
often seen upon the rocks lying off the shore. 

Though appearing clumsy in the use of its 
flippers on the rock, in the water the sea-lion 
can swim at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. 
Though it has a glaring eye and a fierce look, 
it is really a coward ; and it is said that a boy 
with a pop-gun or a rattle can put ten thousand 
sea-lions to flight. Having seen the California 
animal you have almost seen the seal. The eye 



192 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



of the seal is mild, adorned with long lashes, and 
altogether very beautiful. The fur-bearing seal 
is, of course, covered with a thick, fine fur. Its 
home is in northern seas. 



53. MONKEYS AT HOME. 



After reading of the delightful native homes 
of the monkeys, one wonders how these creatures 
can appear so cheerful in the sober cages where 
they are so constantly confined. 

There are New World monkeys and Old 
World monkeys. Brazil is the principal native 
country of the former. It is a land of perpet- 
ual summer, of forests ever green, of rich, glossy 
foliage, of blooming flowers, of gorgeous birds 
and butterflies. The orange, the custard-apple, 
and the pine-apple abound. It is a nice place 
for monkeys. In this paradise of fruits and flow- 
ers live the spider monkeys, which are so bright 
and lively in the cages. 

All monkeys have four hands, for their feet 
are made like hands. But the spider monkey 
and some of his cousins have five hands. How 
is that ? Why, the tail is vised as a hand. It 
can grasp a branch or another monkey's hand. 
Thus with hands, feet, and tails, they glide swiftly 
along the net-work of branches, like spiders run- 



MONKEYS AT HOME. 1 93 

ing over their webs. Or, hanging by their tails 
one beneath another, they sometimes make a 
monkey rope extending to the ground. 

Not so lively as the spider monkey, but far 
more noisy, is the howling monkey. He, too, 
has a grasping tail ; but he delights more in 
howling than in climbing. When the sun rises 
and when it sets, this boisterous songster sets up 
his cry, and then a great chorus, numbering per- 
haps forty or fifty of his companions, join him. 
The howlers are often caught, but never tamed. 
No monkeys, except those of South America, 
have grasping tails. 

In Southern Asia, in the islands of the Malay 
Archipelago, and in Africa, are the homes of the 
Old World monkeys, of the baboons and of the 
apes. These monkeys use their tails for bal- 
ancing when they pass along delicate or shaky 
branches. They have pockets or pouches in 
their cheeks, in which they pack their food when 
they are gathering it. 

part 2. 

In the monkey house at the garden, after pick- 
ing out the " spider" and other American monk- 
eys by their hand)' tails, you may see the 1 little 
green African monkey and the macaques from 

Southern Asia. These have prominent eyebrows, 
F.A.-«. 



194 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

which overshadow their faces, and they are larger 
than many of the other kinds. 

Walking about among his four-handed breth- 
ren on all fours, is a much larger animal. He 
has a head like the head of a dog. His face 
looks grave, even cross. His tail sticks out 
straight, and then bends down ; and on each side 
of his tail is a bright, pink cushion for him to 
sit on. This fellow is the common African bab- 
oon. His legs and arms are of about equal 
length, and his feet rest flat on the ground. 
Hence he can walk like a dog. 

Baboons live in troops, among rocks and 
mountains, and climb trees much less than monk- 
eys do. They feed on berries, fruits, and in- 
sects which they find under stones. When at- 
tacked, while the males throw these stones at 
their enemies, the little baboons ride away on 
the backs of their mothers. 

Monkeys are small and have long tails. Some 
of them have grasping tails, and some of them 
have pouches in their cheeks. Baboons are 
larger, and have shorter tails. They also have 
cheek-pouches. Apes are still larger, and have 
neither tails nor pouches. Monkeys, baboons, and 
apes have hands with four fingers and a thumb 
that can press directly against any of the fingers. 
The great toes of their feet are quite like thumbs, 
and upon both fingers and toes they have nails. 



MONKEYS AT HOME. 



195 



The apes include four kinds — the gibbon, the 
chimpanzee, the orang-outan, and the gorilla. 
They are 1 more like human beings than are the 
monkeys. They often stand erect like men, and 
in their native countries the people are accus- 
tomed to call them wild men. 




Macaque Monkey. 
Moustache Monkey. 



Green Monkey. 
Spider Monkey. 



The gibbon is a native of Sumatra, where grow 
the clove, the pepper, the cocoanut, the gigantic 
palm, and the great fern-tree. He has slender 
limbs, and is very agile. Clothed in a suit of 
smooth black, brown, or gray, he would be the 
dude among apes, were it not for his long arms 
which reach quite to his feet. He moves swiftly 
along the ground, swinging by his hands from 
branch to branch of the trees. 



196 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

In the same spicy, palmy Sumatra, and in 
Borneo, is found the orang-outan. He is more 
than four feet high, is robust and strong, has 
long arms, and when he walks touches the ground 
with his knuckles. Though very strong, he is 
not ferocious. His nest or hut is built in a tree 
about thirty feet from the ground. The chim- 
panzee and the gorilla live in Western and Cen- 
tral Africa. 

About six centuries before Christ, Hanno, a 
Carthaginian captain, made a voyage to the west 
coast of Africa, where he found troops of black, 
hairy creatures, which he supposed to be wild 
men and women. He called them gorillas. It 
was supposed that they ruled over the elephant 
and other great animals. Three of them were 
caught, but they were fierce and unmanageable. 
The gorilla is the largest of the apes, and in 
some respects the most like man. 



54. HOW 7 MONKEYS ACT. 



It would require a large book to record all 
the strange and funny acts of monkeys. Many 
descriptions, like the stories of the Arabian 
Nights, have been colored by the imagination 
of the writers. But enough truth can be gath- 
ered to show what wonderful creatures they are. 



HOW MONKEYS ACT. 197 

Monkeys are not so polite as are dogs. But 
dogs have, for thousands of years, been the pupils 
of men. Monkeys, on the other hand, have al- 
ways been schooled among wild beasts. No 
wonder they are saucy, impertinent, and greedy. 
Why they should be so curious, mischievous, 
playful, and full of mimicking which often brings 
them grief, it is not so easy to tell. 

The men who are trying to catch the wild 
monkeys will sometimes suddenly come upon a 
troop under a tree. Away scamper the monk- 
eys, like little sprites, to the top of the tree, 
where they peek through the foliage, and watch 
their pursuers. The men then put gloves on 
their hands, and take them off, repeating this 
operation several times. 

Then leaving behind them on the ground sev- 
eral pairs of gloves with pitch in them, the men 
retire. Down come the monkeys and pull on 
the gloves, but alas ! they can not get them off. 
Again the men rush upon them, and the monkeys 
try to scramble up the tree, but slip back and 
are caught. 

Monkeys, like boys, know enough to learn by 
experience. They handle carefully a tool that 
has once cut them. One who had sometimes re- 
ceived bits of sugar wrapped in pieces of paper, 
was once offered a little package containing a 
wasp. When he unfolded the paper, the wasp 



198 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

stung him. Ever after that, before opening a 
package, he held it to his ear. 

Monkeys throw sticks and stones at their 
enemies, and quickly learn the use of screws, 
levers, keys, and hammers. The bruh, a macaque 
monkey in Sumatra, is trained to pick cocoanuts, 
selecting only those that are ripe. In India a 
monkey works a large fan hung from the ceiling 
of a room. The African baboon is taught to 
guard his master's property, to drive horses and 
oxen, and to blow the bellows of the blacksmith. 
A young orang-outan has been taught to use 
a cup and a spoon, and to make its bed. 

Even when wild, chimpanzees are sportive. 
They use a hollow tree for a drum to call the 
little ones to play, and when the youngsters are 
gathered the old folks sit around and watch 
them, correcting them if they do any thing out 
of the way. A kind of gibbon, called the woo- 
woo, is the only brute that can sing. It runs 
through the semitones of the octave with much 
accuracy. The gibbon will fold in his arms and 
soothe any companion that may be injured. 

A New World monkey has been seen to wash 
the faces of her children in a brook. The female 
gorilla has died of grief over the loss of her 
infant, and orangs have begged the body of a 
dead companion. Monkeys carry food to their 
sick, and adopt and care for orphans. 



REMUS CROWLEY. 199 



55. REMUS CROWLEY. 

A delightful little fellow is Remus Crowley. 
He has become known to thousands of persons 
visiting the Central Park menagerie in New York 
City. Mister Crowley, they usually call him. 
The illustration presents his portrait which the 
artist has drawn from life. There is an air of 
thoughtfulness about his face. But his big ears, 
deep, upper lip, long arms, and that crooked 
thumb where a common great toe is expected — 
all show that he is not a man or a boy. 

Mr. Crowley is nothing but an ape — a chimpan- 
zee. He is about four years old, is nearly three 
feet high, and is expected to grow to a height 
of five feet. Except his face and the inside of 
his hands and the bottom of his feet, his whole 
body is covered with thick, black hair. The hair 
on his head is banged in front, and when his 
toilet is made, is parted in the middle. 

In the summer season, and during exhibition 
hours, Crowley may be seen in his cage dancing 
on a spring-board, or entertaining the spectators 
with his antics, grimaces, and smiles. The 
changes of his countenance express his various 
feelings of joy, sorrow, or anger. 

He is playful and mischievous, but not naughty 
or malicious. His food is simple, and consists 



200 



FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 




Remus Crowley. 



largely of bananas and of milk. The history 
and some of the habits of this animal are kindly 
given by Superintendent Conklin, of Central 
Park. Mr. Conklin says : 



REMUS CROWLEY. 201 



"The animal was captured by one of the na- 
tives of Central Africa near the Congo River, 
and was afterwards nursed by one of the women 
of that place. On the annual pilgrimage of the 
natives to the coast to sell ivory, young Crowley 
was carried along, and was sold to a Mr. Symthe, 
who was at that time on his way to America. 

" Mr. Smythe took excellent care of it, keep- 
ing it in his sleeping cabin during his voyage 
here. On arriving in New York, June, 1884, it 
was about six months old. It was placed in 
charge of a special keeper, who has taught it to 
eat with a spoon, and with a knife and fork ; to 
drink from a cup, and to use a napkin with more 
skill than many children. 

" The winter of 1884-5 lt contracted a severe 
cold, and had an attack of pneumonia. The 
treatment was similar to that human beings re- 
ceive. It fully recovered from this attack and 
has not been ill a day since. It has lived longer 
in captivity than any other specimen of the spe- 
cies of which we have any knowledge. 

"This summer we succeeded in procuring a 
female as a companion. The two have not yet 
been together, but see each other between the 
bars of the cage. Crowley's delight is to coax 
his companion to the bars, pretending to fondle 
her, and then to throw a handful of sawdust in 
her face." 



202 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 



56. CAPTURE OF A YOUNG GORILLA. 

I remember well the day when I first possessed 
a live gorilla. Yes, a gorilla that could roar; a 
young gorilla alive ! He was captured not far 
from Cape St. Catharine, and dragged into 
Washington. My hunters were about five in 
number, and were walking very silently through 
the forest, when suddenly the silence was broken 
by the cry of a young gorilla for its mother. 
Every thing was still. It was about noon, and 
they determined to follow the cry. 

Soon they heard the cry again. Gun in hand, 
the brave fellows crept noiselessly toward a 
clump of wood where the baby gorilla evidently 
was. They knew the mother would be near. 
Presently they saw the bush moving, and crawl- 
ing a little further on, in dead silence, they 
beheld what had seldom been seen even by ne- 
groes. A young gorilla was seated on the ground 
eating some berries. 

Instantly, they made ready to fire; and none 
too soon, for the old female saw them as they 
raised their guns, and they had to pull triggers 
without delay. Happily, they mortally wounded 
her. The young one, hearing the noise of the 
guns, ran to his mother and clung to her, hid- 
ing his face and embracing her body. The 



CAPTURE OF A YOUNG GORILLA. 203 

hunters immediately rushed toward the two, hal- 
looing with joy. 

Their shouts roused the little one. He in- 
stantly let go of his mother, and ran to a small 
tree which he climbed with great agility. There 
he sat and roared at them savagely. They were 
now perplexed as to how they should get at him. 
At last they cut down the tree, and, as it fell, 
they threw a cloth over the head of the young 
monster, and thus gained time to secure it while 
it was blinded. 

The little brute, though small and a mere 
baby, was astonishingly strong, and by no means 
good-tempered. They found that they could not 
lead him. He constantly rushed at them, show- 
ing fight, and manifesting a strong desire to take 
a piece or several pieces out of every one of 
their legs. 

So they were obliged to get a forked stick, 
in which his neck was inclosed in such a way 
that he could not escape, and yet could be kept 
at a safe distance. Thus he was brought to 
Washington. 

The excitement of the village was intense, as 
the animal was lifted out of the canoe in which 
he had come down the river. He roared, and 
looked around wildly with his wicked little eyes, 
giving fair warning that if he could get at any of 
us he would take his revenge. 



204 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

I saw that the stick hurt his neck, and imme- 
diately set about having a cage made for him. 
In two hours we had built a strong bamboo 
house. We made it as strong as we could. In 
this cage he was immediately placed. And now 
for the first time, I had a fair chance to look at 
my prize. As I approached the cage he darted 
at me, and looked at me with savage eyes. 

I named the gorilla Joe. He was evidently 
not three years old, but possessed extraordinary 
strength. His height was about three feet six 
inches. His hands and face were very black, 
and his eyes were sunken. The hair on his 
head was of a reddish-brown color. It began 
just at the eyebrows, and came down the sides 
of the face to the lower jaw, just as our beards 
grow. 

The face was smooth and intensely black. 
The upper lip was covered with short, coarse 
hair which might be regarded as a moustache. 
There were eyelashes, too, though they were 
thin. The eyebrows were straight. Excepting 
the face and the palms of his hands and feet, his 
whole body was covered with hair. On the back 
the hair was of an iron-gray. 

After I had carefully looked at the little fel- 
low, and knew that he was safely locked in his 
cage, I ventured to approach him to say a few 
encouraging words. But, as I approached, he 



CAPTURE OF A YOUNG GORILLA. 



205 




bellowed, and made a violent rush at me. This 
taught me caution : I must not go too near. 

I threw Joe pieces of pine-apple-leaves, and I 
noticed that he ate only the white part. There 
seemed to be no difficulty about his food as long 
as it was gathered from his native woods ; but 
he refused all other kinds of food. He was very 
fond of bananas and ripe plantains. 



part 2. 



Havinc; time now to study him carefully, I 
asked, Shall I be able to tame him ? I thought 
I should ; but I was disappointed. lie sat in his 
corner, looking wickedly out of his gray eyes, 
and I never saw a more morose or ill-tempered 



2o6 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

face than this little beast had. I do not believe 
that gorillas ever smile. 

The second day I found Joe fiercer than the 
first. The third day he was still more savage. 
On the fourth day, while no one was near, the 
little rascal succeeded in forcing apart two of the 
bamboo sticks of his cage, and made his escape. 
I immediately got all the negroes together for 
pursuit. Where had he gone ? I determined 
to surround the wood and re-capture him. Run- 
ning into my house to get one of my guns, I 
was startled by an angry growl coming from 
under my low bedstead. 

It was Master Joe ; there was no mistake about 
it. I knew his growl but too well. He lay 
there hid, but anxiously watching my move- 
ments. I cleared out faster than I came in. I 
instantly shut the windows, and called to my 
people to guard the door. When Joe saw the 
black faces, he became furious, and with his eyes 
glaring, and every sign of rage in his little face 
and body, he got out from beneath the bed. 

How to catch him was now a puzzling ques- 
tion. Peeping through the key-hole I saw him 
standing still in the middle of the room, look- 
ing about for his enemies, and examining the 
furniture. He had never seen such things be- 
fore. 

Finally, seeing that Joe was quiet, I dispatched 



CAPTURE OF A YOUNG GORILLA. 207 

some men for a net ; and opening the door 
quickly, I threw this over his head. He roared 
frightfully, and struck and kicked in every di- 
rection. I took hold of the back of his neck ; 
two men seized his arms, and another his legs. 
Thus held by four strong men, we could hardly 
manage Joe. 

We carried him to the cage, and once more 
locked him in. I never in my life saw such a 
furious beast as he was. He darted at every 
one. He bit the bamboo of his cage. Good 
treatment only made him more savage. 

It began to be troublesome to procure his food 
from the woods, and I wanted to accustom him 
to civilized food. But he would touch nothing 
of the kind. How was I to bring him to Amer- 
ica ? I could not put an African forest on board 
ship. He always snarled at me, and only when 
very hungry would he take even his choicest food 
from my hand. 

At the end of a fortnight, I came one day to 
feed him, and found that he had gnawed a bam- 
boo to pieces, and had again made his escape. 
Luckily, he had just gone ; for as I looked around, 
I caught sight of him making; off on all fours, 
and with great speed across the prairie for a 
clump of trees. 

I at once gave the alarm. I called the men, 
and we gave chase with the fishing-nets. He 



208 FAMILIAR ANIMALS. 

did not climb a tree, but stood defiantly at the 
border of the wood. About one hundred and 
fifty of us surrounded him, and the nets were 
thrown over him. Four of us bore him, again 
struggling, into the village. This time I would 
not trust him to the cage, but fastened a small 
chain about his neck. 

I filled a half barrel with hay and set it near 
him for his bed. He recognized its use at once. 
At night he always shook it up, and then took 
some hay in his hands with which to cover him- 
self when he was snug in the barrel. He often 
mourned, perhaps for his mother, at night. 

Ten days after he was chained he died. I 
stuffed his skin and brought his skeleton to 
New York, where many saw it. Poor Joe ! I 
wish he had lived and become tame, so that I 
could have brought him home with me to show 
to the children. Now poor Joe can be seen, 
stuffed, in the British Museum. 




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